Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago Public Schools, and the Chicago Teachers Union agreed on one thing Wednesday following a closed-door meeting between the three parties: They are very close on settling a union contract that has been bargained for nearly a year.
But while the mayor and Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden characterized the meeting as productive, CTU leadership and CEO Pedro Martinez emerged frustrated.
Johnson, a former middle school teacher turned CTU organizer, called the remaining issues as “minute” and warned of the potential added costs of a strike.
“None of these issues that they need to settle on will be worth the consequence of six, seven days or how ever many days out of school,” Johnson said. “They are so close.”
The two sides have been stuck on how much additional preparation time elementary school teachers ought to get: 10 minutes or 20. They also remain apart on what veteran teachers are paid and how frequently highly rated teachers get evaluated.
Wednesday’s meeting was convened by the mayor at Harden’s request. Both CPS and CTU shared where they stand and discussed pathways to a deal, but parties on both sides declined to share details.
Harden said both sides are “so close, I have to believe that …we haven’t just struck the right chord yet,” Harden told reporters. “But we’re gonna keep grinding at it.”
Martinez said he sees “no remote possibility of a strike” because both sides are “that close.” Still, Martinez said his team was asked to stay at the meeting longer, but he didn’t feel comfortable with that. CPS and the union will go back to bargaining Thursday morning, he said.
“The power dynamics are just unfair to our team, who all we’re trying to do is protect our district and protect our students,” Martinez told reporters after the roughly two-hour meeting. “This was not a negotiation.”
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates agreed that things are close — and “absolutely landable tonight” — but criticized Martinez for refusing to stay longer on Wednesday to get a deal. She said at one point he “stormed out of the room.”
“You’re suing the district to keep your job, you’re saying you’re the only decisionmaker for this contract, and then you storm out of the room,” Davis Gates said of Martinez, who won a temporary injunction that prevents board members from attending negotiations.
Martinez left the meeting after the mayor and “at no point disrespected the mayor,” according to a source who attended the meeting.
Asked if the union will strike if both sides can’t close their gap, Davis Gates said, “See you all later,” and left. Seventy-five percent of union members must vote yes in order to authorize a strike.
The mayor’s high-stakes convening of the key players comes on the eve of a pivotal school board vote scheduled for Thursday to amend the current school year’s budget — a move that typically happens after collective bargaining agreements are settled.
The amendment on Thursday’s agenda accepts $139 million in unanticipated revenue from the city and leaves open three ways to spend it: on a new contract for teachers, a collective bargaining agreement for principals, and a $175 million pension reimbursement to the city.
Harden said “there is a path on the table” to pay for both the contract and the pension payment, but he did not disclose more details. Harden told reporters that the board’s bond attorney has confirmed that it can refinance its debt as one option.
Davis Gates again raised concerns about the board passing a budget amendment before a contract deal, without knowing the true cost of the contract, even though historically the board has waited to amend its budget until after it reaches a deal.
The added revenue is not enough to cover both a payment to the city and increased labor costs related to the contract.
The teachers union has ramped up pressure to settle the contract ahead of the budget amendment vote. But the timing of the amendment vote is rooted in when the city government must close out its books on last year’s budget, which is March 30. If CPS does not approve the amendment, city officials have signaled they may have to dip into reserves to cover the $175 million pension reimbursement However, CTU’s current leadership faces urgency of its own with internal union leadership elections in May.
Bargaining between CTU and CPS started out more hopeful than previous years, given that the union had a strong ally and former staffer of their own in the mayor’s office. But talks began souring in the summer, after CPS said it was facing major financial challenges.
Tension between Martinez and the mayor’s office, which at one point suggested the district take out a short-term loan to, in part, pay for contract costs. In October, Johnson’s first set of school board appointees resigned en masse, and a mix of new appointees held seats during a short interim period. In December, Johnson’s appointees voted to fire Martinez, but he has remained at the helm of CPS — and in charge of contract negotiations.
Changes in management can slow the pace of bargaining, said Robert Bruno, an expert in labor relations at the University of Illinois.
“It isn’t just that the management people are changing, but it’s what those people represent,” Bruno said, noting that Martinez is not in alignment with the current school board. “They have different attitudes. They come with different expectations.”
Nevertheless, Bruno said it seems like CPS and CTU “have been close for a long time” and a strike is first and foremost, harmful to students and families, but also “is likely to be harmful to the mayor’s longterm political interests.”
“The cost of a strike would just be so disproportionately more than finding a compromise,” Bruno said.
Johnson echoed that sentiment and urged all parties to stay at the table to negotiate a compromise.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
