Chicago Teachers Union Moves Toward Strike With Vote

(Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to authorize a strike, moving the nation’s third-largest school district closer to a work stoppage.

About 94% of the union’s members voted for the strike, according to an emailed statement from the union late Thursday. The CTU, which represents 25,000 teachers and staff, has rejected the city’s offer of a 16% pay increase and has demanded more nurses, librarians and special education staff in schools.

The vote “increases bargaining pressure,” said CTU President Jesse Sharkey during a press conference late Thursday to announce the results. “We want what’s good for the schools. We want conditions that are conducive to learning and working.”

The preliminary results follow three days of voting, which ended Thursday. Full results will be released Friday, Sharkey said. The labor fight comes as Mayor Lori Lightfoot is trying to fill an $838 million hole in the cash-strapped city’s budget and is seeking ways to stem the loss of city residents longer-term. Along with teachers, Chicago park district workers are also considering walking off the job for the first time in 85 years.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to finalize a deal that is sustainable for all Chicagoans and for our City’s future, that respects our teachers, and continues our students’ record-breaking success for years to come,” Lightfoot and Janice Jackson, chief executive officer of the school district, said in a joint emailed statement.

The union and board of education will continue negotiating on Friday, according to a CTU spokesman. The union’s governing body will convene for its next scheduled meeting Oct. 2 to set a strike date. Once that is set, the union must provide the Board of Education a 10-day notice prior to strike. The earliest the teachers could walk out is Oct. 7.

Investors and rating firms are monitoring the talks closely.

“We will be following the situation closely to see whether the ultimate resolution is something that is affordable and provides some budgetary certainty, or conversely, if it contributes to budgetary imbalance and uncertainty,” Arlene Bohner, a senior director and manager of U.S. state and local government ratings at Fitch Ratings.

The unknowns include whether headcount, wage and benefit costs will increase more than expected, and how they fit into the board’s commitment for a structural balance, Bohner said.

While Chicago’s spending plans are separate from the budgets of the park district and school system, the three entities are intertwined. They share a shrinking tax base and are struggling with rising pension costs. The vitality of the schools and parks also affects the appeal of Chicago as a place to live, according to investors and analysts.

The city’s teachers last had a one-day walkout in April 2016, and in 2012, the union staged the city’s first public school strike in 25 years. The current labor disputes are getting some national attention. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, attended a rally on Tuesday hosted by the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU and several other groups to show support.

“To the extent the CTU gets everything that they are asking for, or close to that, the budget gap will certainly widen and the board will need to identify new revenue sources to achieve balance,” said Eric Friedland, director of municipal research at Lord Abbett & Co., which which holds $26 billion in muni assets including city of Chicago and Chicago Board of Education bonds. “It is important to note that the strike is not a foregone conclusion, as the two sides are still negotiating.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Campbell at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois, William Selway

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