CTU files labor complaint against school board - Chicago Tribune

CTU files labor complaint against school board - Chicago Tribune:

Chicago Teachers Union files labor complaint against school board

The Chicago Teachers Union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint accusing the city's school board of bad-faith bargaining and refusing to engage in mediation toward a new contract.

Union officials said little progress has been made over eight formal bargaining sessions and numerous informal meetings since November. The complaint filed Wednesday with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board follows the union's rejection earlier this week of the board's proposal that teachers take on a greater share of pension payments.

Jesse Ruiz, the district's interim chief, said CPS hadn't reviewed the complaint but looked forward to continuing contract talks.

As she did in the months before the 2012 teachers strike, CTU President Karen Lewis sought to make Mayor Rahm Emanuel the focus of the union's displeasure with talks to replace a contract that expires June 30. The union again accused the city of using the talks to get back at the CTU for its support of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in the mayoral election.

"We feel this is reactionary and retaliatory," Lewis said at a news conference Wednesday. "I guess the fuzzy sweater's gone," she said, referring to Emanuel's wearing a sweater in campaign commercials to indicate a softer personality.

The district, which says it is wrestling with a $1.1 billion deficit weighted with pension payments, wants to save millions of dollars by having teachers pay more into their pension fund. The district wants to end a long-standing agreement that limits teacher paycheck deductions for pensions, the union said.

That CTU said the result would be a 7 percent cut in take-home pay for members. The union also says health care premiums could take another 3 percent under a district proposal.

"One of the reasons we're upset about this is despite the difficulty of the last negotiations, they never went so far as to suggest a 7 percent cut in teacher compensation," CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said. "This is a new low, and frankly one that we're fairly convinced that they're serious about."

CTU members covered by the contract are required to forward 9 percent of their pay to pensions but contribute 2 percent of their salaries. The district agreed in 1981 to indefinitely pick up the bulk of the union workers' tab — in addition to the pension contributions it already must pay — in exchange for lower pay raises.

According to district records, the 9 percent employee contribution totaled nearly $164 million in the 2014 fiscal year. CPS, according to its records, picked up about $127 million of that amount.

That same year, CPS paid $613 million for its own contributions to the pension fund.

The union said that under the district's proposal, a teacher who earns a base salary of roughly $70,000 would have to pay an additional $4,900 each year toward the pension fund. Under the current system, the teacher would have about $1,400 deducted annually for pension costs.

CPS officials say the district faces an upcoming pension payment totaling roughly $700 million.CTU files labor complaint against school board - Chicago Tribune: