Please be advised that your Union is closely monitoring the budget and staffing situation at CPS. About four weeks ago the Chicago School Board voted to pay scheduled wage increases. To date the Board has not advised the Union of any large scale layoff nor asked for salary or other concessions (unpaid holidays or furlough days, etc.) although there have been meetings in which the budget was discussed in general. The Union has made requests for lists of of laid off and to-be-laid-off members. CPS has not yet responded to Local 73's request, even as layoff letters have gone out to CTU members according to press accounts.
The Union will aggressively protect your jobs in these hard times. Your Union has file an Unfair Labor Practice charge at the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board and a grievance at CPS because CPS took away the July 2 work day and the July 5 holiday at non-school work sites without bargaining with the Union. In addition, a grievance is pending binding arbitration on several cases where principals skipped seniority during a layoff by using employee evaluations as a pretext.
Keep in mind that no layoff is official unless a letter from CPS Labor Relations is received. If you do receive a letter, call the Member Resource Center (888-734-8573) to determine whether the layoff is legitimate and seniority was followed.
Protecting the integrity of our contract and your jobs is our highest priority!