Posts tagged Chicago
Chicago teachers vote on deal to bring average salary to over $114,000 per year
April 12, 2025 // “It’s estimated to cost around $1.5 billion, and Johnson has said he doesn’t have a plan yet to pay for it,” Smith told The Center Square. CPS teachers currently have an average salary of more than $93,000 per year. If they approve the tentative agreement, the number would rise to $114,429 by the end of the contract. Smith said teachers can expect to pay more in dues to CTU. “When government unions like Chicago Teachers Union are advocating for higher salaries for teachers and for other school employees, what they are really advocating for is a higher dues amount coming from that employee, because every time they score a win in the raise category, that means they are also going to be taking more money out of that person’s paycheck,” Smith said.
CTU contract: Union’s tentative agreement with CPS will cost $1.5 billion; how will the city pay?
April 3, 2025 // The Civic Federation weighed in on the budget back-and-forth Tuesday. "That's the million-dollar question — or rather, the hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars question," the Civic Federation sad in a statement. "As of now, we don't have any further insight into how CPS plans to pay for the contract beyond the first year." Mayor Brandon Johnson was asked about that $175 million pension payment. "The contract is paid for by a separate entity of government, the Chicago Public Schools. And that, in part, is the responsibility of the CEO to be able to come up with mechanisms to be able to satisfy that," said Mayor Johnson. Martinez's suggestion to cover the pension payment is a tax levy.
Tony’s Fresh Market workers vote against unionizing
April 1, 2025 // A large majority of workers at Tony’s Fresh Market voted against unionizing last week, dealing a major blow to organizers and Local 881 United Food and Commercial Workers, the union that sought to represent them. Nearly 2,000 workers at 21 Tony’s stores in Chicago and the suburbs were eligible to vote Mar. 25-27. Out of 1,720 ballots counted, 605 voted for unionizing while 1,115 voted against, according to results filed with the National Labor Relations Board.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says there is no reason for a teachers’ strike to happen
March 20, 2025 // Local News Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says there is no reason for a teachers' strike to happen chicago By Adam Harrington, Sabrina Franza, Jacob Sarracino Updated on: March 19, 2025 / 10:49 PM CDT / CBS Chicago Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with officials from the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union Wednesday, and afterward called for finding a compromise and avoiding a teachers' strike. The mayor met Wednesday with CPS Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, and Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), head of the City Council Budget Committee.
Starbucks workers strike in six cities across the US with multiple supporters arrested
March 14, 2025 // In Chicago, 11 employees were arrested after staging a sit-in at one of the city’s first union Starbucks locations. Five people were arrested in Pittsburgh as well. Chicago police told the Seattle Times that strikers were arrested for criminal trespass “on signed complaints from an affected business.”
Liberty Justice Center Files Three New Lawsuits to Protect the Rights of Government Employees Against Public-Sector Unions
March 13, 2025 // "Public-sector unions continue to place barriers for government employees who wish to stop being union members and stop paying union dues in ways that violate the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “And although those unions are supposed to only collect dues from members, these unions often refuse to be held accountable by their own members for how they spend those dues.”
Chicago Teachers Union can strike after March 7
March 8, 2025 // The Chicago Teachers Union entered a 30-day “cooling off” period following its rejection of a neutral fact-finder’s contract recommendations. The 30 days are up. The union can go on strike after March 7.
Chicago History Museum workers want to join an arts industry unionization wave
February 17, 2025 // Hannah Johnson, who works in member relations at the museum, is on the organizing committee. She said she and others at the Chicago History Museum have been inspired by cultural workers who have recently unionized, both locally and nationally. “We felt that now was a really good time to really seek out that sense of stability and security regarding our jobs, our wages and our benefits, and also request higher degrees of transparency from management,”
CTU rejects fact-finder, moves closer to strike
February 11, 2025 // It supports CPS' proposed 4% to 5% annual raises, plus CTU's proposals to add 90 new librarians hired by 2029 and more family engagement coordinators, Chalkbeat reports. Yes but: It does not weigh in on CTU demands for revamping teacher evaluations and more teacher prep time through enrichment classes like art or music. Meanwhile: The Service Employees International Union's (SEIU) Illinois council this month declared itself under attack by the CTU under current CTU contract proposals, the Tribune reports.
Chicago Teachers Union moves one step closer to going on strike
February 10, 2025 // The union announced it rejected recommendations from a neutral third-party “fact finder” in its latest phase of negotiations with Chicago Public Schools. That moves the teachers union one step closer to going on strike against CPS and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who gained control of City Hall after CTU funneled $2.3 million into his campaign coffers. The union thought having Johnson in office would facilitate negotiations this time around. “This year’s CTU contract negotiations will be different than any other,” CTU wrote in an April 2024 bulletin.