Chicago educators on Friday will vote on who should lead the Chicago Teachers Union, offering a test for the current leadership just weeks after finalizing a new contract.
Incumbent CTU President Stacy Davis Gates thinks that deal, and the 97% approval it received from voting members, shows that the rank-and-file back the work she and her Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) leadership team have done at the helm.
“If you ask me about which vote has meant the most, to me, it is the vote to ratify our contract because that is a symbol of a product of my leadership, CORE’s leadership of our union,” Davis Gates said.
But a group of teachers that calls themselves the Respect Educate Advocate Lead (REAL) caucus don’t see it that way and are vying to take over the union.
Erika Meza, REAL’s candidate for CTU president, said the high contract approval mark was due more to members wanting the political turmoil from the nearly yearlong negotiations to come to an end.
She thinks members are frustrated by leadership she says has become too insular and combative. She likes REAL’s chances on Friday.
“We are optimistic because we hear it in the schools when people have reached out to us for school visits and so that’s what we’ve been doing every day,” Meza said. “People are ready for change.”
A REAL win would be an upset. The CORE caucus has repeatedly won reelection since 2010, pushing the union to broaden its focus from bread-and-butter issues, such as raises and benefits, to fighting for social justice causes. It has become a major political player in the city, including playing a major role helping to catapult the mayor, a former CTU organizer, into office.
Davis Gates, president since 2022, and CTU Vice President Jackson Potter head CORE’s reelection slate.
Results of the election are expected to be finalized Saturday morning, according to a spokesperson for the union.
Though REAL’s slate came in third in 2022, Alison Eichhorn, who’s running for vice president and was once a dedicated member of CORE, said this election is different.
That’s because this time they’ve been able to visit hundreds of CPS’ more than 600 schools, in person and virtually. She added that trust in leadership has dwindled due to public political battles that have also frayed relationships with fellow labor organizations.
“I think several of the actions, the words and the things that our leadership has done, has weakened our power as a union, and we need to rebuild that within our own membership,” Eichhorn said.
Meza and the REAL slate want to place more emphasis on day-to-day working conditions in the classroom, which they say the current leadership is disconnected from.
Meza, a computer science and bilingual teacher at Washington High School on the Southeast Side with 25 years of experience, said her priorities are to increase the percentage of dues that go toward member services and to be more transparent about the union’s finances.
But Davis Gates says CORE has been able to focus on larger social issues and what goes on day-to-day during its time in leadership, noting that the two often go hand-in-hand. She pointed to language secured in their 2019 contract that strengthened protections against federal immigration enforcement in schools as an example.
“CORE does pay attention to everything,” Davis Gates insisted. “The political side, the negotiating side, the electoral side, all of it. CORE has a 360-degree view point of how it serves its members.”
Davis Gates said that kind of work will need to continue as the Trump administration launches investigations into programs like CPS’ Black Student Success Plan.
An election upset would not signal a drastic change in the CTU’s politics: REAL values most of the same social and educational justice causes as CORE.
Davis Gates also said incoming leadership will need to make sure their contract wins, including lower class sizes and increased staff positions, are implemented.
But Meza criticized leadership for not pushing for more from CPS management in the new contract on issues like wage increases and overtime pay. She thinks that’s another factor that will make the race competitive.
“This is going to be really tight, but we are feeling optimistic,” Meza said.
Contributing: Sarah Karp, Nader Issa