Emanuel vs. the teachers union? My money's on the union
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is the weakest he has ever been since assuming City Hall. Expect the Chicago Teachers Union to use that weakness against him in the coming months—not just in negotiating a new contract, but also to push for progressive revenue solutions to the budget crisis facing city schools.
Months after being forced into a runoff election unexpectedly, the mayor has faced incessant protests and repeated calls for his resignation in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting video. And now, with an overwhelming percentage of CTU members voting to authorize a strike—one that could potentially happen within the next few months—the mayor could face a reprisal of 2012's embarrassing teacher walk-off.
The principal sticking points between the union and CPS, of course, center on the district's fiscal woes—a $1.1 billion budget shortfall that includes $500 million in pension payments.
Schools CEO Forrest Claypool has a few ideas, including contract proposals that the union says would amount to a 7 percent pay cut (unsurprisingly, an unpopular idea among the rank and file). He also could head to Springfield, hat in hand, with Emanuel and the union to work out a bailout with Gov. Bruce Rauner. But a deal there also is unlikely, given the kind of draconian anti-labor provisions Rauner has insisted upon as a quid pro quo.
The union won't accept either proposal, and Claypool and Emanuel know it. If the mayor and his schools CEO want to avoid a strike, they don't seem to be trying very hard.
The CTU repeatedly has put forward its own plans to balance the budget—not through more cuts for schools, but by tapping into large amounts of wealth that are already right here in Chicago. The possibilities include renegotiating the interest rate swap deals that union research says cost the city tens of millions annually; using the tax-increment financing surplus for CPS; closing corporate tax loopholes; enacting a financial transactions tax on institutions like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; and a progressive state income tax.
Some of those proposals would require long-term, difficult political movement at the local and state levels. But others, like renegotiating swaps, would not. Such policies could buy the district some time to enact long-term revenue solutions without decimating city schools through layoffs.
Yet Emanuel has taken few of these proposals seriously. That has to change.
To get the city out of its current budget squeeze and avoid layoffs and cuts, Emanuel should stop trying to eke out fiscal stability in Chicago's schools on the backs of teachers. Instead, he should turn to the wealthy Chicagoans who have proven his closest allies in office and tell them it's their turn to pay.
The mayor won't do so willingly.
But the CTU was able to force his hand the last time it called a strike in 2012. The union can't legally strike over progressive revenue demands, but it can continue to agitate around such issues on, and off, the picket line. With 2016 already looking like a tough year for Emanuel, now may be the best chance the union will get to shift the burden of the fiscal crisis from middle- and low-income workers to Chicago's wealthiest citizens.
Micah Uetricht is the associate editor of In These Times and a contributing editor at Jacobin. He is the author of "Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity."Mayor Emanuel's political weakness is opportunity for Chicago Teachers Union - Opinion - Crain's Chicago Business:
