
Grievance wins improve school safety and facilities + REACH arbitration
A strong contract is only as good as its enforcement, and that process is what ensures our safety and security long after a strike.
A strong contract is only as good as its enforcement, and that process is what ensures our safety and security long after a strike.
Despite challenges around personal business days and the difficulty the Union has in combating CPS resistance to these cases, we continue to see arbitration victories for our members. Also, our new contract has yielded some significant improvements in certain aspects of our health insurance coverage.
In the wake of challenges around personal business (PB) days and our efforts in bargaining to consolidate and get Chicago Public Schools to stop fighting these cases, there have been several recent arbitration victories for Chicago Teachers Union members.
The Union has recently won arbitration victories in five separate cases related to unsatisfactory REACH ratings, layoff rights, the timely filing of grievances and religious holidays. Arbitration cases are complex, time-consuming and costly to fight. CPS knows this, of course, and its tactic is often to force grievances into the lengthy arbitration process, which delays justice, depletes union resources and wears down opposition to its mistreatment of members.