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QUICK-TO-STRIKE LEADERS NEED TO BE REPLACED, CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION
MEMBERS SAY
Illinois Policy Institute/
Patrick Andriesen
Chicago Teachers Union members are calling
for a new president and vice president in the organization’s upcoming
spring election, saying leadership “sees work stoppages and strikes as
the first step, and not the last one” when it comes to working with
Chicago Public Schools.
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 The Members First Caucus of the CTU
contends the current leaders secured members “a couple of KN95 masks for four
days of lost pay” during remote action taken earlier this month. Chicago
students were out of school for five days at the start of January when union
leaders told members to stay home over COVID-19 demands.
The caucus’ campaign video goes on to claim that union President Jesse Sharkey
and Vice President Stacey Davis Gates “are far more focused on advancing their
own political careers than delivering for us.” The caucus members are now
pushing for those leaders to be voted out of power on May 20.
Both Sharkey and Gates have defended union leadership’s work on the safety
agreement reached with CPS and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
“This leadership has advocated for good quality public schools for students and
the people who work in them,” Sharkey told Playbook. “It’s been difficult
working with this mayor and the previous one, who are poor listeners. We’re
proud of our advocacy.”
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Gates echoed the
sentiment in an interview Monday, saying union leadership was
working hard to implement the safety agreement and her priority now
was students’ safe return to the classroom. She did not rule out a
rumored mayoral run against Lightfoot in 2023.
Mary Esposito-Usterbowski
is a citywide school psychologist and the Members First candidate
challenging Sharkey for leadership. She disagreed, saying leadership
was “reactive” in addressing issues facing students and union
members and could be doing more.
“CTU can better serve its members by being proactive and not
reactive. We must focus on member needs, providing transparency and
clear communication, ensuring that members have the resources they
need to do their jobs effectively and guaranteeing safety of all
staff and students,” Esposito-Usterbowski said in a statement.
The Members First campaign also pointed to how current CTU
leadership loaned out millions of dollars of union members’ dues to
parties, including to political candidates, without recouping those
debts. The caucus said CTU had $8.8 million in cash reserves seven
years ago, but now it has none.
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