The Chicago Teachers Union expects thousands of teachers to show up Wednesday for a downtown rally staged to fire up its members and serve as a display of muscle in the midst of protracted contract talks with the school district.þþThe union's primary bargaining chip has been the threat of a strike and the rally at Auditorium Theatre, like earlier polling of teachers, is expected to show resounding dissatisfaction with the contract offer from Chicago Public Schools officials.þþÿWe haven't seen movement and we haven't seen political recognition there's a problem,ÿ said Jesse Sharkey, CTU vice president.þþUnion officials say they could hold a strike authorization vote at any time. A vote in June would include hundreds of longtime teachers and union stalwarts who are about to retire. State law making it more difficult to strike requires approval for a walkout from 75 percent of the union's members.þþÿIt's impossible to take a vote in summer when all our members are on vacation,ÿ Sharkey said.þþRight now, as required by the education reform law, a three-member panel is reviewing the offers from both sides.þþThat process won't be completed until mid-July. The chief sponsor of the education reform law, state Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, said Tuesday that Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his staff have approached her to see what could be done to prevent the union from taking a strike vote before the panel issues its findings.þþLightford said she has been talking to the union, the mayoral administration and CPS to see if the issue can be resolved. Further legislation or an amendment to the current law has not been part of those discussions, she said.þþÿIt's so disappointing,ÿ said Lightford, who said she thinks the union should wait until the panel's work is done. ÿThis is such a good measure, but everyone wants to do what they want to do.ÿþþRobin Steans of Advance Illinois, an education reform group, said the legislation was meant to assure that the panel would make its recommendations, and final offers from both sides would be made public, before a strike could be called.þþÿThe clear intent of the law is a negotiating process that has the ability to succeed before any strike is contemplated,ÿ Steans said.þþCPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said the union ÿshould fully commit to this process and declare no strike authorization votes will be taken before allowing their members to first review the independent fact finder's compromise report.ÿþþAt a news conference Tuesday, CTU officials said that in a poll two weeks ago, 21,000 of 25,000 members, or about 84 percent of total membership, opposed the district's contract offer as laid out by the union.þþCPS, which says it faces a $700 million deficit, is offering a first-year salary increase of 2 percent, followed by a merit pay system in coming years that awards not only high-performing teachers but also those who teach subjects like math or science or work in dangerous neighborhoods.þþThe union initially asked for a compounded 30 percent salary increase over two years. The union says that would compensate teachers for working a longer school day and for teaching a more rigorous curriculum next year.þþUnion officials have also complained about a new teacher evaluation system that will take into account student scores and that CPS' proposal eliminates recommended class sizes from the contract.þþRod Estvan, an education policy analyst with disability advocacy group Access Living, said the state education reform law ÿcreates a situation where it forces extreme positions.ÿþþÿIt causes the board to say we don't have to negotiate over these things because the law says we don't have to so we won't,ÿ Estvan said. ÿIt tells the union the only way to open (nonsalary) issues for discussion is by making a salary demand that's so significant that the board says, 'OK, we'll open it up if you lower your demand.'ÿ
Source: Chicago Tribune
