Under a new statewide compromise, public school and higher ed employees across Illinois won’t have to expend their sick time if they are forced to miss work due to COVID-19 — as long as they’re fully vaccinated.
Chicago Teachers Union
Rank-and-file CTU members on Wednesday signed off on the deal, two days after the union’s elected delegates voted to suspend a labor action that saw the vast majority of teachers refusing to work in person amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Efforts to use COVID-19 testing to ensure outbreaks could be stamped out before they catch fire was at the heart of the dispute between school officials and union leaders.
Rank-and-file members of the Chicago Teachers Union are in the process of voting on the deal reached by the union and the city on new COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said she expects the vote to be complete by the end of the week.
Chicago students are set to return to their classrooms this week after several days at home as the city and Chicago Teachers Union have reached a compromise on new COVID-19 mitigations inside schools.
“Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted Sunday.
Talks between Chicago school leaders and the teachers' union resumed Sunday amid a standoff over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety measures that canceled three days of classes.
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have been battling all week over whether it’s safe to have kids in the classroom as COVID-19 cases rise. The dispute has led to classes being canceled for three days as teachers refuse to work in-person, and the district refuses to go remote.
Students briefly returned to class for the first two days of this week, but since Wednesday, classes have been outright canceled as teachers refused to work in person and CPS refuses to go remote, leaving families in limbo once again.
The Chicago Teachers Union on Saturday sent a new proposal to the city hoping to resolve its ongoing labor action in which its members have refused to work in schools in-person during a spike in COVID-19 cases
In the lawsuit, parents claim the union’s action is actually an “illegal strike” — language that’s also been used by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. They want a judge to order teachers to return to their schools and resume in-person learning.
The Chicago Principals and Administrators Association said it was “blindsided” by the announcement. “Principals don’t determine the resources and conditions that leave some schools ready to open and others unable to,” it said.
While a few school buildings may be open to students, Chicago Public Schools has once again canceled classes as negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union continue.
Knowing that most teachers wouldn’t show, even with the warning that they would therefore not be paid, CPS canceled class for Wednesday, and now Thursday too.
Chicago Public Schools students will stay at home for a second consecutive day Thursday, as the district has once again canceled classes after the Chicago Teachers Union voted to begin working remotely.
The Chicago Teachers Union is set to vote Tuesday evening on a labor action that would see its 25,000 members work fully remotely beginning Wednesday. If that measure is approved, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said he’ll have no choice but to cancel classes.
