Chicago Teachers Union criticized for ‘radical’ demands as competitions plummet

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) came under fire for its “radical” demands after it was revealed it is seeking an additional $50 billion in contract negotiations to pay for pay raises, resources for immigrants, fully funded abortions and LGBTQ-related materials in the classrooms. .

Illinois Policy Institute Director Mailee Smith Reacted to the Requests during “Fox & Friends,” accusing the CTU of acting on behalf of the interests of its members rather than those of students.

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“This is normal for them. They’re not pushing things that are better for students,” Smith said Monday. “They are pushing things that are better for their leaders’ political agenda. Other things we see are climate justice demands, social justice demands, $2,000 per student for asylum seekers, they want housing for new teachers.”

“None of this is typical of collective bargaining,” he continued. “These are an agenda of the leaders who have nothing to do with the students.”

The union’s demands have not been made public, but a leaked document sheds light on the surprising agenda, including union President Stacy Davis Gates’ bold call for 9% annual pay increases for members through fiscal 2028. .

The average salary for a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $93,182, according to research by the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative nonprofit think tank. Therefore, the average teacher salary will increase by half to $144,620 in the 2027-2028 school year, it says.

The demands come even as its members report disappointing results for their students, with only 21% of the city’s eighth graders being proficient readers, according to the latest Nation’s Report Card, which provides national results on achievement. of the students.

“CTU leadership has a long history of progressive activism,” Smith said. “He focuses on power and politics over what is best for teachers and students, and… in 2022, he elected and funded Mayor Brandon Johnson into office, one of his own, one of his own.” employees, so this was to be expected.”

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“Now he is taking this opportunity to have one of his own at the negotiating table to advance his most radical agenda yet,” he continued. “We’ve already seen the results of CTU’s activism. Scores in math and reading are plummeting. Only one in four students can read at grade level in Chicago Public Schools. It’s even worse in math. It’s even worse worse for low-income students. Chronic “Absenteeism is increasing. “Enrollment is declining as people leave CPS, and all of this has happened while a radical slate of CTU leaders were in charge.”

Leaked lawsuits also address “disparities” in health care with a call for 100% coverage benefits for abortion care and fertility, including full coverage for embryo storage and any other frozen storage needs.

The union also wants more taxpayer funds to go to immigrants in its long-range plan: allocate $2,000 to each migrant to help them with their studies, transportation and mental health counseling.

The union also wants each of the 646 public schools to have a “newcomer link” for both new students and immigrant students and for unused school facilities to be converted into immigrant housing.

Other social justice provisions of the plan include ensuring that workers and educators receive training annually on LGBTQ+ issues as a qualification in their job description. The union also wants to require that all schools in the district have at least one gender-neutral bathroom.

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Additionally, he wants the board to adopt policies that prohibit any member from being forced to inform parents when a student rejects their gender, according to the documents.

“They don’t want teacher evaluations and performance to be tied at all to teacher pay or benefits, or to what’s happening in schools,” Smith said. “In fact, in these contract lawsuits, they are trying to soften the evaluation criteria for teachers, making sure that they are evaluated less and that it actually means less.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is a former CTU legislative coordinator who was nominated by the union to run for office. As of June 30, 2023, CTU had funneled more than $2.6 million to Johnson’s campaign, while he received more than $6 million from teachers unions in total, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

Smith said an “impartial negotiation” between the city and the teachers union is essential to moving forward. He urged Johnson to step aside to make that happen.

“We need to make sure there is a fair negotiation,” Smith said. “Regardless of what the demands are or what should be in a collective bargaining agreement, Mayor Johnson is not a biased negotiator. What we have in him is collusion with the union, not negotiation. We need him to recuse himself so there can be someone at the negotiating table who actually represents the teachers, the parents and the taxpayers within the city.”

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.