Negotiations continued into Friday evening between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union but the two sides came away with no agreement to avoid the city’s second teachers strike in 15 months.
“Another day has passed, and the CTU has not agreed to anything,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a Friday night news conference. “The CTU leadership has failed and left us with a big bag of nothing.”
Lightfoot accused the union of failing even to put into writing “the areas where we actually agree,” and said “CTU leadership blew it up and created chaos.”
Lightfoot said CPS plans to proceed with the reopening of elementary and middle schools on Monday, drawing a line in the sand that could set up a potential teacher lockout or strike next week.
“Those teachers need to be there,” for those students, Lightfoot said. If not, “we will take further action.”
Until then, she added: “We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to reach an agreement.”
She noted that her own daughter is attending school in person, “because it’s safe.”
The day had featured minimal updates until Lightfoot’s office scheduled an early evening news conference with schools chief Janice Jackson. One minute before the briefing was set to start, the mayor’s office alerted reporters that “this press conference has been postponed as the parties continue to negotiate.”
Leading up to that postponement, the union and City Hall, communicating through back channels, had agreed to return to the bargaining table in the evening, sources said. No deal had yet been reached.
The saga is the latest twist in the city’s various attempts to resume in-person learning for the first time during the pandemic. City officials still aim to bring 65,000 students and about 15,000 teachers into classrooms on Monday. Jackson was adamant as recently as Thursday that schools will reopen next week.
“The medical community has reached consensus on the safety of reopening schools,” Jackson said late Friday, speaking after the mayor.
“As a school district, we have gone above and beyond . . . to safely operate and reopen schools,” investing $70 million in school improvements, Jackson said.
Earlier in the week, Jackson had sounded a conciliatory tone.
“We’re prepared to compromise and give up on things that we were dug in on,” Jackson had said Thursday on WBEZ’s Reset. “But the one thing we all have to agree on is that students belong in school, and that every parent should have an option.”
The two sides have traded counterproposals this week and agree on more issues than they disagree on at this point in bargaining. Both are still hoping to reach an agreement this weekend.
CTU and CPS are in agreement on PPE and ventilation protocols, and the formation of health and safety committees at each school to monitor and report problems.
The latest indications from CPS and CTU were that progress had been made on establishing a health metric that would determine school closures, but an agreement hadn’t yet been reached. The same went for testing of staff and students. CPS had proposed testing school staff twice per month and students in the 10 ZIP codes with the highest infection rates once a month. CTU additionally asked for every staff member and student to be tested once they return to get a sense of how widespread infections are in the school communities.
The largest remaining disagreements were over whether teachers who have medically vulnerable relatives at home should receive accommodations for remote work — and which conditions would qualify. The other sticking point is whether members should be required to return to classrooms before they receive a vaccination.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
"strike" - Google News
January 30, 2021 at 09:19AM
https://ift.tt/2MEjxIc
Lightfoot demands schools reopen Monday, sets stage for CTU strike - Chicago Sun-Times
"strike" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2WheuPk
https://ift.tt/2VWImBB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Lightfoot demands schools reopen Monday, sets stage for CTU strike - Chicago Sun-Times"
Post a Comment