Chicago Teachers Union Files Suit Against Chicago Public Schools
On Monday, 8/2/10 the Chicago Teachers Union filed suit in federal court in Chicago to stop the arbitrary dismissals of hundreds of teachers and support staff by Chicago Public Schools. The suit alleges that the Board is dismissing some of the city’s most qualified teachers in a manner that violates the rights of CTU members to procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution as well as their rights under the labor contract. The suit seeks reinstatement of all teachers and support staff who have been dismissed to date. It also seeks to hold off all further dismissals until the CTU’s contractual claims can be arbitrated.
According to Karen Lewis, CTU President, “The Board has fired, is firing and threatens to continue firing teachers capriciously, callously and without legal grounds. Chicagoans have a right to a quality public education but Board’s actions, coupled with the City’s and State’s continued financial neglect of our public schools, works against quality schools. We are fighting for our members and student rights on moral, contractual and constitutional grounds.”
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The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools and, by extension, the students and families they serve. CTU, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, is the third largest union in the country and the largest local union in Illinois.
