The contract for about 27,000 union members expired in June 2015. If no agreement is reached, the union is discussing a potential strike in mid-October, or sooner, according to sources close to the decision. The official bulletin of the union stated in August that CTU members were so angry that they were, “ready to strike now, even before school is set to open”. “The other major part is the education of our city’s almost 400,000 public school students”.
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But from last month’s mass layoffs, to a possible teachers strike, to lead in the the drinking fountains, a lot of questions are lingering as the year begins.
The union sees a new contract proposal as a serious sticking point. The district has proposed phasing out the 7 contribution over this year and next. On Tuesday, the union president acknowledged that negotiations were still ongoing, noting that the union has yet to make a decision on the strike.
Brian Marchiony, a spokesman for J.P. Morgan Securities, which acquired the bonds in a private placement, declined to comment on Tuesday beyond the disclosure in an official statement released by the school board on Friday that the bank may sell the bonds. “And we want to be as generous as we can”.
The two sides have been negotiating on issues including cost-of-living raises, pensions and other benefits. The union last staged a strike in 2012.
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CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has asserted that the district is doing what it can to reach an agreement that takes into account what he has described as “deteriorating finances”.
