Chicago Teachers Union Rejects Fact Finder's Report, Can Go On Strike In 30 Days
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Teachers Union says it has rejected a report by a neutral fact finder on Saturday, beginning a 30-day countdown to a possible strike.
The CTU says the fact finder recommended an old contract offer from Chicago Public Schools that was unanimously rejected by the union's bargaining team earlier this year.
By rejecting the fact finder's report, the union can now go on strike as early as May 16 which is about a month before the school year ends.
"The clock has started," said CTU President Karen Lewis in a press release. "CPS has created this fiscal mess and refuses to go over hundreds of millions of dollars in existing revenue that is already out there. Our wacked out governor isn't helping. Hand-in-hand, both will wind up hurting our members and our students in the long-run. We have no choice to prepare ourselves for a possible strike."
The Chicago Public Schools says the board of education is accepting the fact finder's report. CEO Forrest Claypool said Saturday afternoon that he is "disappointed" that the union is talking about a strike.
"My hope is that CTU leadership will reconsider their outright and premature rejection of this recommendation by an impartial mediator and fact finder," Claypool said.
Claypool said CPS's finances are dire and that an agreement with teachers and changes to the state education funding formula are needed.
"Without an agreement and without fair funding from Springfield, CPS will continue to face tough choices like larger class sizes, fewer teachers, outdated textbooks and crumbling buildings," Claypool said.
Claypool said the contract offer rejected by the union's bargaining team last January would have given teachers an average raise of 13.5 percent over the life of the contract, but would have meant that teachers would pay the full amount of their contributions to the teacher pension fund.
The union says the four-year contract offer would have frozen step increases and would have resulted in teachers taking home less at the end of the contract than today.
Last December, nearly 90 percent of CTU members voted to authorize a strike. The union would still need to give a 10-day notice ahead of any strike.
Earlier this month, teachers staged a one-day strike in protest of what they call unfair labor practices. Chicago teachers have been without a contract since last summer.
The CTU says it will hold a news conference on Monday where it will release further details.
To view the fact finder's report, click here.
