CPS-CTU Negotiations Take Turn For Better; No Agreement On Key Contract Issues

By Chuck Sudo in News on Sep 7, 2012 8:40PM

With a Sept. 10 strike date looming representatives for Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union need to find some common ground in a short period of time to avoid the first teachers strike in Chicago in a quarter century.

CTU president Karen Lewis told ABC 7 this morning that talks between the two sides had improved but that they’re still far apart on key issues such as compensation and working conditions. CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey echoed Lewis’s sentiments.

Though there is still “quite a bit of space between the two sides, we talked forthrightly. I think with some critical compromises, we can get this thing settled,” Sharkey said.

“There’s still a way to go and the hour is late, so we’ll see.’”

One reason for the thaw in frosty relations was the involvement of Chicago School Board president David Vitale in the negotiations. Vitale spent over an hour in discussions and his presence was said to have triggered “a frank discussion about key issues,” Sharkey told the Sun-Times.

CTU spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said in a press release,

"We recognize the tight budget constraints and have always been willing to work with the District to see how we can best utilize the budget and compensate our members and ensure our schools are well-resourced."

Yet Gadlin also blasted CPS’ “contingency plan” should a strike occur.

It sounds like a train wreck. It calls for parents to drop off their children at holding centers for a half day of babysitting staffed by strangers, suits from Central Office and preachers. Most of these people have zero experience working with schoolchildren or large groups of teens. It’s the equivalent of opening a fire station without firefighters and giving a bunch of lawyers, accountants and clerical workers a few fire hoses and rubber boots. According to a ‘how-to-be-a teacher guide’ distributed to holding center workers, CPS tells them to provide eighth graders with the same activities as third graders. “Chicago’s public school educators can think of better ways to spend a whopping $25 million in taxpayer funds--how about on books, librarians, working computers, heat and cooling systems and hiring more teachers, counselors and social workers? The first item on any so-called contingency plan should be to settle the contract,” Gadlin said.