Thinking back, Tara Stamps wishes she had listened to the advice veteran teachers gave her going into the holiday season. But she didn’t, until years later, and boy did she pay for it.
CPS is illegally reneging on its deal. Our 11-day strike forced CPS to recognize the contributions of its veteran teachers, among other improvements. As soon as CTU members voted to ratify the agreement, however, the district broke our deal and demanded that most of the $25 million be paid in one-time lump sum bonuses rather than be added to veteran teachers’ base salaries, costing them thousands of dollars in salary increases over the course of their careers because their base salaries won’t increase. CPS didn’t want to pay its veteran teachers fairly, and now it’s retaliating against them for being among the longest-tenured and most dedicated workers in our schools.
