Chicago Teachers Union

Chicago Teachers Union
AbbreviationCTU
Formation1937 (1937)
TypeTrade union
Location
Membership (2018)
25,000
President
Stacy Davis Gates
Parent organization
American Federation of Teachers
Affiliations
Websitectulocal1.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is a labor union that represents teachers, paraprofessionals, and clinicians in the Chicago public school system. The union has advocated for improved pay, benefits, and job security for its members, and it has opposed efforts to vary teacher pay based on performance evaluations. It also called for improvements in the Chicago schools, and asserts that its activities benefit students as well as teachers.[1]

The CTU united several teachers' organizations in Chicago in the wake of a teachers' revolt against banks during the Great Depression. It was chartered in 1937 as Local 1 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), in which it played a founding role. It was the largest and most active AFT Local until the 1960s.[2] The CTU won collective bargaining rights in 1966 and conducted several strikes during the 1970s and 1980s. In September 2012, the union began its first strike in 25 years.

The CTU is also affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Chicago Federation of Labor, and the AFL–CIO. It has more than 25,000 members. Current officers come from the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, elected in 2010 to replace the longstanding United Progressive Caucus. From that point until her 2018 retirement, Karen Lewis was president. Through a successors election the new officer slate became: President Jesse Sharkey, Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, Recording Secretary Michael Brunson and Financial Secretary Maria Moreno. Following the departure of Sharkey, Stacy Davis Gates assumed the role of President on July 1, 2022.[3][4]

  1. ^ Lyons, Teachers and Reform (2008), pp. 3–4. "In addition to the issue of unionization, scholars have debated whether teachers joined unions to pursue monetary gains or to reform the public schools. Since teachers founded the AFT in 1916, the organization has portrayed itself as a union fighting for better salaries and benefits for its members and improvements in the public schools. Indeed, teachers' unions across the land asserted that they wanted improved pay and conditions for teachers in order to provide quality education for the students."
  2. ^ Lyons, Teachers and Reform (2008), pp. 1–2. "In the early years of the twentieth century, the center of teacher unionism was found in Chicago. [...] The CTU attracted a majority of Chicago teachers and remained the largest and most influential AFT local until the 1960s."
  3. ^ "For Members » CTU Contacts". Chicago Teachers Union. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Key players Sketches of negotiators in teachers contract talks". Chicago Tribune. 11 September 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.