catalyst-chicago.org

 CTU leadership has consistently said that salary will be discussed in the last stage of contract negotiations, and on Wednesday they revealed that CPS made a new offer. 

It is five days before the Sept. 10 strike date.

CPS officials have given up their hope of getting merit pay or what they call a differentiated pay scale in this contract and they will continue to reward teachers with salary increases for getting more educational degrees, said CTU President Karen Lewis on Wednesday.

With the unfortunate news that the Chicago Teachers Union has set a strike date for September 10, we are in desperate need of creative solutions.  The core problem is easily stated: The Chicago Public Schools does not have any additional revenue.  In an attempt to balance the budget this year, it raised property taxes to the maximum extent allowed by law and drained all its reserves.

In this fiscal climate, teachers want a raise that the district cannot afford.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates voted unanimously on Thursday for a Sept. 10 strike, union leaders said. Cheering was heard seconds before hundreds of delegates began streaming out of the meeting. “We have done everything that has been asked of us,” CTU President Karen Lewis said. “We do not want to strike, but apparently the board does.”

But district spokeswoman Becky Carroll says "We have continued to make progress over the last couple days. If there was truly an impasse we wouldn't be meeting every single day through the holiday weekend and into next week."