The Chicago Teachers Union has a lengthy list of demands that includes annual base pay and experience pay increases, housing assistance, climate justice, additional benefits in pension calculations and a health care fund pool to target racial disparities — costs that could reach at least $10 billion, according to the analysis.
The Chicago Teachers Union is trying desperately to pass a new contract filled with extreme demands that will put a strain on taxpayers. Only a small proportion of the total cost can be reasonably estimated. $10.2 billion to $13.9 billion.
The request includes:
- Minimum wage increase: A 9% annual cost-of-living adjustment is estimated at $2.52 billion.
- Experience-based increases: $817 million.
- Increased benefits: National Commission on Teacher Credentialing teacher salaries could increase by 15 percent, reaching $2 billion.
- Additional staffing: 4,650 employees, including teaching assistants and specialists, at a cost of $1.7 billion.
- Student benefits: Free CTA passes and smaller class sizes could save more than $643 million.
- Housing policy: The request includes 10,000 new affordable housing units totaling $4.7 billion, as well as extensive rent assistance.
- Health and Wellness: Fully funds fertility and abortion care, weight loss treatments including Ozempic, and a wide range of other health services.
- Electric school buses: The transition to electric buses could cost $500 million.
- Green Initiative: Proposal for carbon neutrality by 2035 through solar power installations and green technology education programs.
If Chicago Public Schools gives in to the CTU’s demands, Chicagoans will face skyrocketing property taxes and increased foreclosures for those who can’t pay. Even if Johnson grants most of the union’s demands, Chicagoans will have to prepare for a higher cost of living as the city seeks new sources of revenue to cover union dues.
The CTU wish list includes nothing that would solve CPS’s dismal academic achievement rates. Since 2012, Although spending has increased by 97%, reading proficiency has fallen by 63% and math by 78% for students in grades 3 through 8. Taking into account the costs of the above requests (which are only a small portion of CTU’s latest requests), annual spending is on track to triple compared to 2012 levels.
The CTU and its affiliates have been the biggest supporters of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is representing taxpayers in these negotiations, and who, as a former CTU activist, should recuse himself from collective bargaining with his former employer, an arrangement that clearly puts him in conflict with interest.
