Chicago public school teachers held an 11-day walkout in fall 2019 before agreeing to a new five-year contract that expires at the end of June. Will current contract discussions result in a summer of contentious negotiations? Robert Bruno is a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the co-author of the 2016 book “A Fight for the Soul of Public Education: The Story of the Chicago Teachers Strike.” He spoke with News Bureau business and law editor Phil Ciciora about what to expect from negotiations.
How do you foresee the negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union playing out? Is an extended strike that runs into the beginning of the school year on the horizon, or will there be pressure on both parties to settle and avoid any potential disruptions?
I think the probability of a strike is pretty low. The difficult negotiations and work stoppages that have characterized past rounds of bargaining have likely chastened both parties against taking hostile positions. For the first time in my memory, we seem to have the CTU and the CPS speaking and acting collaboratively.
The negotiations between the two parties have played out in public so far, at the behest of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, himself a former CPS teacher as well as an organizer with the CTU who played a role in the 2012 Chicago teachers strike. How much influence will Mayor Johnson have in negotiations?
Since 1995, when the state legislature put Chicago public schools under the direction of the mayor, the CTU-CPS relationship has had a prominent and powerful political entity overseeing the negotiations. The lack of an elected school board also allowed whoever was mayor at the time — whether it was Mayor Daley, Emanuel or Lightfoot — to essentially inject their educational plans into what the bargaining agreements could hold.
Mayor Johnson’s union credentials will help to create a level of trust between the parties that a fair deal can be reached. Holding some first-ever public bargaining sessions is a notable example of both sides believing they can discuss an agreement without extreme acrimony. Trust was in little evidence between the past few Chicago mayors and the CTU. And without it, bargaining was slow and painful.
Environmental issues such as modernizing public schools’ cooling systems and mitigating issues related to climate change took center stage in the first public negotiating session. How much weight will environmental justice issues have in negotiations moving forward?
As has been true since Karen Lewis was elected CTU president in 2010, the union — now led by Stacy Davis Gates — will put forward proposals that address the conditions that impact children’s learning. During a time when Chicago and the Midwest are battling extreme heat and humidity and more extreme weather is predicted for our region, the temperature of classrooms and how you cool learning spaces should be an issue that everyone deems appropriate for discussion.
CPS has a $391 million budget deficit for the 2024-25 school year and teachers are angling for 9% annual raises. How much leverage does the teachers union have in extracting better pay and benefits when the school system is already on poor financial footing?
The parties clearly recognize the system’s financial situation, which is why for the first time they jointly went to Springfield to advocate for additional funds for student programing and services. Bargaining has a rhythm to it and every ask has a give-and-take quality. More here, less there. What the parties end up agreeing to is a combination of advantage and compromise and what is possible. Hopefully you produce a better whole for Chicago parents and students.
Editor’s note: To contact Robert Bruno, call 630-487-0013 (cell); email bbruno@illinois.edu.
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