Chicago TU: House of Delegates Votes “No” to Concessions

Delegates Show their Strength through Unity at Emergency Meeting

CTU Website

August 12, 2010

The House of Delegates, the supreme decision-making body of the Chicago Teachers Union, convened an emergency meeting last night to vote to accept or reject concessions proposed by the Chicago Board of Education. The Union's Executive Board presented three options; two proposed by the Board of Education that would require contract concessions, and one recommended by the Executive Board that would reject all concessions. The House of Delegates voted unanimously to reject concessions from the Board of Education and broke into thunderous applause.
“I don’t care if I lose my job, do not give in to those people.” President Lewis relayed this message from a CTU activist who was unable to attend the meeting because she is working as a volunteer Union organizer this summer. President Lewis read over a list of concessions the Board proposed included demands like: give up the contractually-obligated raises, unpaid breaks, and no pay increases for gaining additional years of experience of education.
President Lewis explained how the Education Jobs Bill, which was just signed into law, will bring approximately $138 million into the CPS. During budget talks, the Board claimed that $100 million could save 1,000 positions. She said that Huberman can stop holding job fairs and can start calling back teachers who were terminated.
Many members were wondering how the new CTU leadership was going to handle the concessions proposed by the Board. CTU leadership organized this emergency meeting to make sure that elected representatives of the membership, the delegates, made the decision.

President Lewis will bring the message to the Board. “The House of Delegates is my boss, I’m just the messenger,” she explained.
“I feel energized, this meeting was down-to-business and ended in a unanimous vote,” explained McAuliffe delegate Scott McNulty, “We didn’t just say ‘aye,’ we shouted our vote!”
The next House of Delegates meeting is scheduled for September 15th at International Union of Operating Engineers, located at 2260 South Grove Street, Chicago. All members are encouraged to attend. To prove membership, members should bring their Union card or a paycheck stub indicating dues paid.