CTU

Leaked CTU contract proposal raises questions about teacher housing assistance

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said she wants incentives for new teachers out of college. Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas said the draft proposal is not focused enough on Chicago kids.

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A draft of the union’s contract proposal was first leaked by conservative think tank, ‘Illinois Policy Institute.’ It reveals the union’s desire to obtain financial assistance for teacher housing to live and work in the city. NBC 5’s Courtney Sisk reports.

A leaked Chicago Teachers Union contract proposal is raising questions about financial assistance for teacher housing.

A draft of the union's contract proposal was first leaked by conservative think tank, 'Illinois Policy Institute.' It reveals the union’s desire to obtain financial assistance for teacher housing to live and work in the city.

"There’s financial assistance for city workers who fight fires and who are in public safety," said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates at a press conference Tuesday. "We want them to work and make money that puts them above the poverty line."

Davis Gates confirms the proposal draft does ask for financial assistance for CTU members, and she clarified she wants it to go toward incentives for new teachers out of college.

"What type of incentives can we offer newly graduated young people to invest in Chicago," she said. "This contract is about transformation, and it will cost money. The economics are something we'll have to go back and forth about.”

The draft document wording has raised questions after stating the CTU's housing initiative campaign begins with the real estate transfer tax referendum, currently in limbo after a judge benched it from counting on the ballot for being misleading. Some question whether the union would try to obtain tax dollars from the transfer tax homeless initiatives for union members.

Davis Gates shut those claims down Tuesday.

"No, no don't conflate," she said. "That part of our messy democracy is that things get out that are not ready to be read out.”

When asked if he would support real estate transfer tax dollars going to the CTU or other entities, Mayor Brandon Johnson weighed in.

“Not one individual, not one entity gets to dictate how dollars are going to deal with this crisis," he said. “It’s not for me to make that determination by myself.”

Meanwhile, others are speaking out against the draft proposal. Former CPS CEO Paul Vallas believes it's not focused enough on Chicago kids.

"I’m not adverse to finding ways to incentivize teachers to come to Chicago, but when you're basically the highest paid teachers among large urban districts in country," Vallas said, "I tend to think we need to focus our attention more on what we are going to do for the students.”

He said he's glad the drafts were made public prior to the union delegates' meeting to review and vote on it.

“What she's saying is this stuff shouldn’t have gotten out. The essence of democracy is transparency," he said. "The flaws of democracy is the attitude that you should withhold from members and public of demands you’re making that are not in the best interest of children."

Union House Delegates will meet Wednesday to review the proposal and vote.

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