Latest news with #DavisGates
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
CTU threatens to sue over proposed CPS budget cuts
The Chicago Teachers Union is threatening to sue the Chicago Board of Education over budget plans proposed by outgoing schools chief Pedro Martinez that it says constitute unfair labor practices and violations of the recently ratified contract. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates sent a letter to the school board on Tuesday, June 3, characterizing Martinez and his team's proposals to balance the Chicago Public Schools' 2026 fiscal budget as 'attempts at vindictive sabotage.' The new fiscal year begins on July 1. The union settled a new $1.5 billion four-year contract in late April, following a year of negotiations. CPS has said there is enough money to cover the first year of the contract, but has not specified plans for the other three. In recent weeks, CPS suggested delaying the proposals outlined in the new union contract to balance the budget for next year, given challenging financial circumstances, according to the CTU letter. Those delayed proposals would affect agreements around class size and staffing levels, the letter states, affecting English Language Learners and students with disabilities. 'To be clear, the district does not have the option of delaying investments it is contractually obligated to make under our (collective bargaining agreement), for FY26 or any other year of the agreement,' Davis Gates writes in the letter. Facing a $529 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2026, district officials pushed back. They indicated in a statement to the Tribune that they may need to review new proposals under various labor agreements to ensure long-term sustainability. Salary increases, they assured, are already in motion and included in the budget. 'If any changes to the collective bargaining agreement are needed, the District will work in partnership with our labor partners to identify solutions together,' the statement reads. The proposals in the new teachers contract include increased salaries for veteran teachers, more librarians and nurses, and mandates around class sizes, among hundreds of other asks. In the letter, Davis Gates writes that 'the terminated CEO is recommending the school district expose itself to massive legal liability by breaking these contractual promises.' She adds that the district's proposed cuts could trigger 'state investigations, monitorship, and costly compensatory services.' Ultimately, she strongly urges board members to reject Martinez's plan. Typically, when a dispute arises regarding the interpretation or enforcement of any of the proposals in a teachers contract, CTU initiates a grievance process that may be submitted to arbitration, where an impartial arbitrator makes a binding decision. But if any party believes that the contract has been violated in a manner not addressable through arbitration, they may seek legal action. Facing a $529 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2026, CPS had planned for months on how to make cuts in a way that minimizes the impact on schools. At a school board meeting last week, Martinez publicly stated that the district would attempt to make cuts at the administrative level to avoid affecting schools as much as possible. The school district released its school-level budgets on May 15, which are based on $300 million in new revenue. That still leaves $229 million in debt, and the necessity for some cuts, CPS said in its Wednesday statement. 'The proposed reductions — totaling up to 15 percent of CPS' budgets for more than 40 departments — aim to protect school funding and critical investments in District programming and operations,' the statement reads. Davis Gates, a close ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, repeatedly attacked Martinez for his handling of the contract negotiations process. She nodded to that in Tuesday's letter, saying that his 'unfamiliarity with how contract negotiations work resulted in months of avoidable confusion, tension, and turmoil, delaying the settlement of our contract.' In the letter, she says that Martinez has gone on to brag about the accomplishments of the contract. Those are the very same measures — she says — that he is seeking to cut. Martinez is leaving the district June 18 after a long, drawn-out battle with Mayor Johnson and the union over district finances.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates honored at U.S. Capitol by Illinois Congresswoman Delia Ramirez
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates received congressional recognition for her dedication to educational equity in Chicago and beyond. U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-IL, the only serving Latina U.S. congresswoman in the Midwest, commended the longtime labor leader on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday morning. She called Davis Gates a friend and 'an unapologetic champion of our Chicago communities.' Ramirez has repeatedly stood up against President Donald Trump for his hard-line immigration enforcement that has affected the Chicago area. She made another strong statement Tuesday by nodding at Davis Gates' support of that work. '(Davis Gates) secured sanctuary protections for immigrant families and supported students and families experiencing homelessness, putting Chicago's children at the center of everything she does,' said Ramirez. Ramirez's announcement came just days after Davis Gates won her bid for reelection with 64% of the union membership vote. In the winter months, a slate of challengers formed to challenge the incumbent teachers union president and her contingent, arguing that the CTU wasn't practicing financial transparency and was shedding other union allies. Notably, Davis Gates' reelection followed the settlement of a teachers' contract for the first time in 15 years without a strike or a strike vote. Davis Gates repeatedly held up that accomplishment as the 'forcefield' needed to protect Chicago Public Schools from repeated probes by the federal government on the district's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. On Tuesday, Ramirez acknowledged the precedent Davis Gates' labor work, referencing the 15-day strike that Davis Gates helped to lead in 2019 as an example of her 'bold campaigns that build schools.' In the face of federal warnings, the teachers union continues to fight against what it deems as efforts to corporatize public education. 'There is no shrinking from the fight coming from Washington and from the administration's Illinois lackeys like IPI and Paul Vallas, the local right-wing forces who spent millions attacking our leadership,' CTU said in a statement Saturday afternoon. 'The good news is, there are more workers than billionaires. We're not confused about who makes up the workforce today, where our people come from, or who we represent and are in service to,' the statement said. Ramirez also recognized Madeline Talbott and Keith Kelleher, longtime Chicago labor organizers, and Illinois teacher of the year Victor Gomez. Gomez, a six-year teacher from Wheaton, mentors other aspiring bilingual educators, according to Ramirez. 'As a fluent, bilingual, Latina daughter of immigrants, I know the importance of having teachers and mentors who look and sound like me,' Ramirez said.
Chicago Tribune
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates honored at U.S. Capitol by Illinois Congresswoman Delia Ramirez
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates received congressional recognition for her dedication to educational equity in Chicago and beyond. U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-IL, the only serving Latina U.S. congresswoman in the Midwest, commended the longtime labor leader on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday morning. She called Davis Gates a friend and 'an unapologetic champion of our Chicago communities.' Ramirez has repeatedly stood up against President Donald Trump for his hard-line immigration enforcement that has affected the Chicago area. She made another strong statement Tuesday by nodding at Davis Gates' support of that work. '(Davis Gates) secured sanctuary protections for immigrant families and supported students and families experiencing homelessness, putting Chicago's children at the center of everything she does,' said Ramirez. Ramirez's announcement came just days after Davis Gates won her bid for reelection with 64% of the union membership vote. In the winter months, a slate of challengers formed to challenge the incumbent teachers union president and her contingent, arguing that the CTU wasn't practicing financial transparency and was shedding other union allies. Notably, Davis Gates' reelection followed the settlement of a teachers' contract for the first time in 15 years without a strike or a strike vote. Davis Gates repeatedly held up that accomplishment as the 'forcefield' needed to protect Chicago Public Schools from repeated probes by the federal government on the district's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. On Tuesday, Ramirez acknowledged the precedent Davis Gates' labor work, referencing the 15-day strike that Davis Gates helped to lead in 2019 as an example of her 'bold campaigns that build schools.' In the face of federal warnings, the teachers union continues to fight against what it deems as efforts to corporatize public education. 'There is no shrinking from the fight coming from Washington and from the administration's Illinois lackeys like IPI and Paul Vallas, the local right-wing forces who spent millions attacking our leadership,' CTU said in a statement Saturday afternoon. 'The good news is, there are more workers than billionaires. We're not confused about who makes up the workforce today, where our people come from, or who we represent and are in service to,' the statement said. Ramirez also recognized Madeline Talbott and Keith Kelleher, longtime Chicago labor organizers, and Illinois teacher of the year Victor Gomez. Gomez, a six-year teacher from Wheaton, mentors other aspiring bilingual educators, according to Ramirez. 'As a fluent, bilingual, Latina daughter of immigrants, I know the importance of having teachers and mentors who look and sound like me,' Ramirez said.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Which way, CTU? Election tests union's strategy and solidarity
A group of dissenting educators is challenging Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and her squad in a union election Friday. The opposition slate argues that the current leadership's bullish nature doesn't allow for dissenting voices, lacks financial transparency and has shed union allies. Their presidential candidate, Erika Meza, a 25-year veteran teacher from the Southeast Side, is unhappy with what CTU has come to symbolize. 'There's a lack of solidarity right now. We want to bring that back,' Meza said in an interview with the Tribune. 'We need to make this a decision for the whole union.' A lot more than split factions in a teachers union is riding on this election. It's about CTU's priorities and values at a time when its popularity across the city has sharply declined. And questions about representation and race have emerged as a subtext. The election also comes as Chicago Public Schools has an estimated $529 million deficit for its 2026 budget while facing increased attacks on public education from the federal government, presenting challenges for the next leader to navigate. Davis Gates has a long history with labor and organizing. She has been CTU president since 2022 and served four years as vice president of the union before that. In April, she successfully settled a contract without a strike or a strike vote for the first time in 15 years, under close union ally Mayor Brandon Johnson. She is known for her unwavering speaking style, which has at times broken longstanding alliances, and she declined to be interviewed for this story. But at a debate two weeks ago between the leadership of both sides, she was unapologetic about her governing approach. 'The call for civil rights was not something that was popular,' she said. 'In fact, I would submit that what has always been legal is the marginalization of women, of … basically everyone, except for cisgender, white, land-owning males.' In recent weeks, both sides have been gearing up for election day, hosting fundraisers and panel discussions, distributing flyers and speaking at schools. Ballots will be collected early Friday at individual schools and then counted in the evening. Davis Gates and CTU Vice President Jackson Potter are part of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, or CORE. The slate of opposing candidates calls itself the Respect Educate Advocate Lead, or REAL. Caucuses are groups of union members who offer different viewpoints or platforms on issues like school funding and teacher pay. Despite the divide in their pitches for CTU members, both caucuses rest under the umbrella of the teachers union and have relatively similar goals. Still, Meza said there have been some tense moments. She pointed to a flashpoint between CTU officers at the debate, where Potter made a challenging remark to Alison Eichhorn, who is running against him for CORE's second-in-command post. Eichhorn had just touted Meza's Latina background when asked about the diversity of the slate. 'I think it's a problem to say, 'Oh, we're going to choose a Latin(a) president,'' Potter countered. 'That feels a little anti-Black to me based on what the district has done and by the leadership of our sister, Stacy Davis Gates, that has fought so hard against schools closing.' The district recently announced a plan to help its Black student population, which data shows are the furthest behind, despite not making up the majority. The federal government launched an investigation into that plan related to allegations of discrimination. If elected, Meza would be a Latina woman representing educators in a school district that is majority — 47% Latino. Black students represent roughly 35% of the district's enrollment, 11 percent identify as white, and 4.5% as Asian, and 1.4% as multiracial, according to the most recent data on the district's website. In an interview with the Tribune a week later, Meza said that although having a leader who is representative of the majority Latino student body is a good thing, her candidacy is not about race. She said one of the reasons she's running is because current teachers union leaders lack recent experience inside schools. 'They have not experienced teaching remotely during a pandemic or dealing with newcomer students,' she said. 'There's a lot of high anxiety among our students that's not easy to navigate.' Meza, a single mom and a bilingual computer science teacher at George Washington High School on the far Southeast Side, said she enjoys being in the classroom because of her desire to amplify voices and gather information. She was a history teacher for over a decade before she learned how to code. She said she wants to add more field representatives to support students and staff in schools. She wants to make sure union officers are switching out every few years to ensure they stay connected to the student body, she said. Davis Gates, meanwhile, is hailing the wins she said she secured in the contract settled last month, ratified with 85% membership participation, a historic 97% approval rate and, importantly, no strike. Among other steps, the contract solidified teacher raises for veteran staff, promised to decrease class sizes and bolstered school support staff such as librarians. At a press conference in mid-April announcing the high approval rating, she said the work of previous organizers allowed the contract to cross the finish line. 'This is cumulative,' she said. 'So while we didn't (strike) in 2025, we did it in '12, we did it in '16. … We had to do those games to get the system's attention.' Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives Clem Balanoff said the contract's high approval rating was significant. 'When I look at other unions, that's really unheard of territory,' he said. CORE won CTU's leadership in 2010 with the goal of fighting the privatization of schools. At the time, former CPS CEO Arne Duncan and Mayor Richard M. Daley had introduced a plan to shut down under-utilized and low-performing schools by firing staff and converting the buildings into privately run charter operators. CORE led a successful strike two years later, under the leadership of then CTU President Karen Lewis. Her 2012 strike led to a ripple effect, as teachers unions across the country followed in Lewis' footsteps to replicate the successful rank-and-file approach. In 2013, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 neighborhood schools, feeding momentum for the teachers strike in 2019, strengthened by the support of the Service Employees International Union Local 73. SEIU 73 represents a significant number of workers in schools, including special education classroom assistants, security officers and custodians. But allies close to Davis Gates say the alliance with SEIU 73 has fractured due to a conflict in the most recent contract proposal that SEIU said would take away special education assistants from its union and give them to CTU. SEIU threatened to sue over the dispute, and Davis Gates went so far as to speak out publicly against several members of its leadership. Afterward, the leader of a local chapter of SEIU, Dian Palmer, issued a fiery internal message to members accusing CTU leadership of 'bullying and dishonesty.' The conflict dragged on for months, and though that contract proposal was ultimately dropped, sources told the Tribune that tensions remain between the historically aligned unions. It's conflicts like these that Eichhorn, who was once a dedicated CORE member, said have caused CTU's citywide approval rating to go down. She said city approval ratings went from 70% at the height of the strike in 2012 to 28%, according to polling released earlier this year by M3 Strategies, a Chicago-based political consulting firm. 'People are frustrated,' she said. At the debate, when asked about her relationships with other unions, Davis Gates referenced collaboration that occurred when U.S. Secret Service visited an elementary school in Back of the Yards in late January. A Secret Service spokesman told the Tribune their officers were investigating a threat. 'A lot has been said about SEIU,' she said. But 'when those federal agents rang that doorbell, the security guards, who are represented by SEIU 73, alerted the principal from (the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association), who then alerted the counseling staff from CTU, and they all worked in concert.' Meza and Eichhorn's platform also calls on the union to practice full financial disclosure. They allege that CTU is not being honest with members about how union dues are being spent. Liberty Justice Center is suing CTU on behalf of four union members, demanding that the union produce an audit after failing to do so for four years. The nonprofit litigation firm's legal positions and priorities often align with conservative and libertarian ideals, including limiting government power and challenging union influence. 'For an organization as large and high profile as CTU to have this requirement and to just so blatantly ignore it is a significant problem, and I would say an unusual problem,' said Dean McGee, the lead attorney on the lawsuit. Ultimately, the cash-strapped district needs a union leader who can handle money responsibly, said Froylan Jimenez, a CPS civics teacher at John Hancock College Preparatory High School in the Clearing neighborhood who filed an unfair labor complaint against the union over dues money funneled to Brandon Johnson's mayoral campaign. That means helping CPS ask for more money from the state, Jimenez said. 'Whomever the president is, I think they need to rebuild our relationships in Springfield,' he said. The fate of the election lies in the ballots that teachers union members will cast Friday. And Meza stressed that despite the politics, she and Davis Gates are part of the same team: 'She's still my sibling, my union sibling. And she's a fighter.'
Chicago Tribune
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Which way, CTU? Election tests union's strategy and solidarity
A group of dissenting educators is challenging Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates and her squad in a union election Friday. The opposition slate argues that the current leadership's bullish nature doesn't allow for dissenting voices, lacks financial transparency and has shed union allies. Their presidential candidate, Erika Meza, a 25-year veteran teacher from the Southwest Side, is unhappy with what CTU has come to symbolize. 'There's a lack of solidarity right now. We want to bring that back,' Meza said in an interview with the Tribune. 'We need to make this a decision for the whole union.' A lot more than split factions in a teachers union is riding on this election. It's about CTU's priorities and values at a time when its popularity across the city has sharply declined. And questions about representation and race have emerged as a subtext. The election also comes as Chicago Public Schools has an estimated $529 million deficit for its 2026 budget while facing increased attacks on public education from the federal government, presenting challenges for the next leader to navigate. Davis Gates has a long history with labor and organizing. She has been CTU president since 2022 and served four years as vice president of the union before that. In April, she successfully settled a contract without a strike or a strike vote for the first time in 15 years, under close union ally Mayor Brandon Johnson. She is known for her unwavering speaking style, which has at times broken longstanding alliances, and she declined to be interviewed for this story. But at a debate two weeks ago between the leadership of both sides, she was unapologetic about her governing approach. 'The call for civil rights was not something that was popular,' she said. 'In fact, I would submit that what has always been legal is the marginalization of women, of … basically everyone, except for cisgender, white, land-owning males.' In recent weeks, both sides have been gearing up for election day, hosting fundraisers and panel discussions, distributing flyers and speaking at schools. Ballots will be collected early Friday at individual schools and then counted in the evening. Davis Gates and CTU Vice President Jackson Potter are part of the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, or CORE. The slate of opposing candidates calls itself the Respect Educate Advocate Lead, or REAL. Caucuses are groups of union members who offer different viewpoints or platforms on issues like school funding and teacher pay. Despite the divide in their pitches for CTU members, both caucuses rest under the umbrella of the teachers union and have relatively similar goals. Still, Meza said there have been some tense moments. She pointed to a flashpoint between CTU officers at the debate, where Potter made a challenging remark to Alison Eichhorn, who is running against him for CORE's second-in-command post. Eichhorn had just touted Meza's Latina background when asked about the diversity of the slate. 'I think it's a problem to say, 'Oh, we're going to choose a Latin(a) president,'' Potter countered. 'That feels a little anti-Black to me based on what the district has done and by the leadership of our sister, Stacy Davis Gates, that has fought so hard against schools closing.' The district recently announced a plan to help its Black student population, which data shows are the furthest behind, despite not making up the majority. The federal government launched an investigation into that plan related to allegations of discrimination. If elected, Meza would be a Latina woman representing educators in a school district that is majority — 47% Latino. Black students represent roughly 35% of the district's enrollment, 11 percent identify as white, and 4.5% as Asian, and 1.4% as multiracial, according to the most recent data on the district's website. In an interview with the Tribune a week later, Meza said that although having a leader who is representative of the majority Latino student body is a good thing, her candidacy is not about race. She said one of the reasons she's running is because current teachers union leaders lack recent experience inside schools. 'They have not experienced teaching remotely during a pandemic or dealing with newcomer students,' she said. 'There's a lot of high anxiety among our students that's not easy to navigate.' Meza, a single mom and a bilingual computer science teacher at George Washington High School on the far Southeast Side, said she enjoys being in the classroom because of her desire to amplify voices and gather information. She was a history teacher for over a decade before she learned how to code. She said she wants to add more field representatives to support students and staff in schools. She wants to make sure union officers are switching out every few years to ensure they stay connected to the student body, she said. Davis Gates, meanwhile, is hailing the wins she said she secured in the contract settled last month, ratified with 85% membership participation, a historic 97% approval rate and, importantly, no strike. Among other steps, the contract solidified teacher raises for veteran staff, promised to decrease class sizes and bolstered school support staff such as librarians. At a press conference in mid-April announcing the high approval rating, she said the work of previous organizers allowed the contract to cross the finish line. 'This is cumulative,' she said. 'So while we didn't (strike) in 2025, we did it in '12, we did it in '16. … We had to do those games to get the system's attention.' Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives Clem Balanoff said the contract's high approval rating was significant. 'When I look at other unions, that's really unheard of territory,' he said. CORE won CTU's leadership in 2010 with the goal of fighting the privatization of schools. At the time, former CPS CEO Arne Duncan and Mayor Richard M. Daley had introduced a plan to shut down under-utilized and low-performing schools by firing staff and converting the buildings into privately run charter operators. CORE led a successful strike two years later, under the leadership of then CTU President Karen Lewis. Her 2012 strike led to a ripple effect, as teachers unions across the country followed in Lewis' footsteps to replicate the successful rank-and-file approach. In 2013, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 neighborhood schools, feeding momentum for the teachers strike in 2019, strengthened by the support of the Service Employees International Union Local 73. SEIU 73 represents a significant number of workers in schools, including special education classroom assistants, security officers and custodians. But allies close to Davis Gates say the alliance with SEIU 73 has fractured due to a conflict in the most recent contract proposal that SEIU said would take away special education assistants from its union and give them to CTU. SEIU threatened to sue over the dispute, and Davis Gates went so far as to speak out publicly against several members of its leadership. Afterward, the leader of a local chapter of SEIU, Dian Palmer, issued a fiery internal message to members accusing CTU leadership of 'bullying and dishonesty.' The conflict dragged on for months, and though that contract proposal was ultimately dropped, sources told the Tribune that tensions remain between the historically aligned unions. It's conflicts like these that Eichhorn, who was once a dedicated CORE member, said have caused CTU's citywide approval rating to go down. She said city approval ratings went from 70% at the height of the strike in 2012 to 28%, according to polling released earlier this year by M3 Strategies, a Chicago-based political consulting firm. 'People are frustrated,' she said. At the debate, when asked about her relationships with other unions, Davis Gates referenced collaboration that occurred when U.S. Secret Service visited an elementary school in Back of the Yards in late January. A Secret Service spokesman told the Tribune their officers were investigating a threat. 'A lot has been said about SEIU,' she said. But 'when those federal agents rang that doorbell, the security guards, who are represented by SEIU 73, alerted the principal from (the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association), who then alerted the counseling staff from CTU, and they all worked in concert.' Meza and Eichhorn's platform also calls on the union to practice full financial disclosure. They allege that CTU is not being honest with members about how union dues are being spent. Liberty Justice Center is suing CTU on behalf of four union members, demanding that the union produce an audit after failing to do so for four years. The nonprofit litigation firm's legal positions and priorities often align with conservative and libertarian ideals, including limiting government power and challenging union influence. 'For an organization as large and high profile as CTU to have this requirement and to just so blatantly ignore it is a significant problem, and I would say an unusual problem,' said Dean McGee, the lead attorney on the lawsuit. Ultimately, the cash-strapped district needs a union leader who can handle money responsibly, said Froylan Jimenez, a CPS civics teacher at John Hancock College Preparatory High School in the Clearing neighborhood who filed an unfair labor complaint against the union over dues money funneled to Brandon Johnson's mayoral campaign. That means helping CPS ask for more money from the state, Jimenez said. 'Whomever the president is, I think they need to rebuild our relationships in Springfield,' he said. The fate of the election lies in the ballots that teachers union members will cast Friday. And Meza stressed that despite the politics, she and Davis Gates are part of the same team: 'She's still my sibling, my union sibling. And she's a fighter.'
