The Chicago Teachers Union’s demands are a microcosm of Democrats’ worst policies

Chicago is facing a $538 million budget shortfall this year, even as it’s spent $300 million on illegal aliens in the last 11 months. But because leftists believe that money can endlessly be seized from working people, that economic reality hasn’t affected the Chicago Teachers Union (“CTU”). A leaked 142-page document shows a staggering list of insane demands, covering everything from salaries to benefit packages to racial, sexual, and climate classroom policies and beyond. We’re not just looking at greed. Instead, we’re looking at a conscious demand to milk Chicago citizens to pay for feeding the progressive Democrat indoctrination machine.

Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, is a former teacher. That may explain why the CTU, which campaigned hard to get him into office, is comfortable presenting him with its extreme wish list, which CTU’s president said would cost the city “$50 billion and 3 cents.” It seemed like a joke at the time from a woman whose son goes to a private school but, when you look at the list, the only joke was the 3 cents.

Image (cropped) by Charles Edward Miller. Public domain.

You can see the whole list here, but Illinois Policy has helpfully culled some of the crazier demands in a recent report. Here’s just a sample of what the union wants. Please note the focus on forcing DEI, LGBTQ+, and Climate Change ideology into the school system, thereby allowing CTU to bypass the legislature and parents when it comes to classroom content (italicized emphasis mine):

Extensive pay hikes:

[snip]

Mandated positions at every school, regardless of enrollment (with ratios for higher numbers of some positions depending on school enrollment), including the following: librarian; librarian assistant; social worker; newcomer liaison; case manager; restorative justice coordinator; reading specialist and interventionist (elementary schools); three elective teachers (middle schools); technology coordinator; “Climate Champion”; and gender support coordinator and/or LGBTW+ lead/specialist and option to  expand LGBTQ+ faculty support teams at each school (unpaid but receive stipends); in total, the contract adds at least 25 position titles to the list of bargaining unit members (Pages 46, 59, 112, 118-119, 120, 113, 116, 137-138).

[snip]

Surrogacy leave:

[snip]

Compensation and medical benefits for absences related to verbal assault: assault redefined to include verbal assault (including incidents occurring off grounds and on social media)…

[snip]

Program to help new teachers purchase homes:

[snip]

Board support for housing policy and rent control:

[snip]

Teacher autonomy over curriculum that could override state law:

[snip]

Multiple provisions undermining charter schools:

[snip]

Removes police from schools but adds security guards:

[snip]

A number of seemingly COVID-related provisions regarding hazardous conditions, prohibiting punishment for walkouts, and dictating the handling of school re-openings:

[snip]

100% electric bus fleet and fuel-efficient drivers education vehicles:

[snip]

Carbon neutral by 2035:

[snip]

LGBTQ+ safe schools (i.e., keeping parents in the dark):

[snip]

Queer competency training/job descriptions:

[snip]

Pronouns: pronouns he/she and his/her changed to “they” and “their” throughout contract.

My dad was a California public school teacher for 20 years, from 1967 to 1987. I remember the annual agony of contract negotiations. The negotiations revolved around living wages, especially during the inflationary 1970s, work hours (classroom versus grading at home), and medical and dental benefits.

The only real deviation I remember was when my dad was called a Nazi for opposing “ebonics” in the classroom after he pointed out that this would permanently consign black kids to the ghetto because they would be unemployable in corporate America. At home, the irony of the name-calling wasn’t lost on us, given that my Jewish dad got out of Nazi Germany in 1935 to emigrate to then-British Mandate Palestine. Those of his family who didn’t make it out died in the death camps. And yes, fifty years ago, the switch was on: “Jews are Nazis” was, even then, a burgeoning leftist argument.

The insanity of the demands speaks for itself. The only important thing to add is that there’s a consistent correlation between strong teachers’ unions and uneducated children. That makes sense because the Democrat-controlled unions have long been focused not on education but on indoctrination. Public sector unions, which steal from the taxpayer to fund radical Democrat policies, have no business in America.

Hat tip: Peter von Buol.