2022 01 06 Golden v. CTU Complaint
2022 01 06 Golden v. CTU Complaint
Plaintiffs,
In Chancery
v.
Injunction / Temporary Restraining
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION, AFT-IFT Order
LOCAL 1,
Defendant.
Complaint
Public Schools (CPS) against the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), the exclusive
5-days-a-week, in-person schooling since the beginning of the 2021–2022 school year.
However, on January 4, 2022, CTU held a meeting of delegates and a vote of its
members, in which they voted to refuse to work in-person. Although CTU claims its
teachers are willing to work remotely, teachers may not work remotely without the
approval of the Chicago Board of Education. CTU members voted to refuse to teach
2. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA or “the Act”) sets forth
the conditions under which CTU and its members may hold a strike. Not all of the
conditions set forth in the Act that are required before a strike may happen have been
met in this case. As a result, the strike by CTU and its members is illegal.
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3. Plaintiffs, parents of children of CPS students, will be harmed by CTU’s strike
because their children will be denied schooling and they will be forced to arrange
FILED DATE: 1/6/2022 5:04 PM 2022CH00144
child care because their children are unable to attend school. Therefore, Plaintiffs
bring this lawsuit seeking relief in the form of immediate injunctive relief,
Parties
4. Plaintiff Laurel Golden is the parent of three children who attend public
5. Plaintiff Amelia Kessem is the parent of two children who attend public schools
operated by CPS.
6. Plaintiff Jane Siavelis is the parent of one child who attends a public school
operated by CPS.
7. Plaintiff Michelle Shvartser is the parent of one child who attends a public
8. Plaintiff Robert Bartlett is the parent of one child who attends a public school
operated by CPS.
9. Plaintiff Denise Heitz is the parent of one child who attends a public school
operated by CPS.
10. Plaintiff Joseph Warnke is the parent of one child who attends a public school
operated by CPS.
organization” as defined by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, 115 ILCS
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5/2(c). Additionally, CTU is an “exclusive representative” as defined by the Illinois
Educational Labor Relations Act, 115 ILCS 5/2(d), as it has been recognized by CPS
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Jurisdiction
12. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this matter under 735 ILCS
violate the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, 115 ILCS 5/1, et seq.
13. This Court has personal jurisdiction over the Defendant because this lawsuit
14. Venue is proper in Cook County because Plaintiffs reside in Cook County,
Illinois, Defendant is located in Cook County, and all the relevant actions that
Factual Allegations
15. In November 2019, CPS and CTU entered a five-year (2019–2024) collective
During the term of this Agreement, the [CTU] agrees not to strike nor
to picket in any manner which would tend to disrupt the operation of
any public school in the city of Chicago or of the administrative offices
or any other facility of the [CPS]. During the term of this Agreement,
the [CPS] agrees not to engage in any lockout.
16. Section I Preamble of the collective bargaining agreement between CPS and
CTU provides:
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The purpose of this Agreement is to reaffirm the parties’ common
responsibility to maintain a collaborative and collegial collective
bargaining relationship that furthers the parties’ shared goal of
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educational process and provided with a wholesome work environment
based on mutual respect and the highest level of professionalism. The
guiding principles set forth in this Preamble shall remain at the
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forefront of the parties’ negotiations now and in the years to come until
these shared educational aspirations become a reality for each and every
student and employee of the Chicago public school system.
17. The CBA has neither expired nor been terminated since CPS and CTU reached
an agreement.
18. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Pritzker closed schools in Illinois,
including CPS schools, starting on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. CPS implemented
of Illinois, CPS implemented remote learning programs for all students through the
19. CTU repeatedly used the threat of a member strike, which it knew or should
have known would have been illegal, as a negotiating tactic before and during the
20. Although CPS knew or should have known that any strike that CTU engaged
in would have been unlawful, it continued to allow CTU to make such threats rather
than obtaining relief from the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board or from a
court.
21. During the summer of 2020, CPS began floating a hybrid learning model that
it proposed to start using at the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year. Under this
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model, students would rotate into buildings two days a week for in-person classes,
22. CTU opposed starting the 2020–2021 school year with the hybrid learning
model, including threatening a strike.1 In August 2020, CPS backtracked on its plan
to start the school year with hybrid learning, instead acknowledging that it would
start the school year with district-wide remote learning, although under a different
model than it used in the spring of 2020. CPS acknowledged that this remote learning
program would last through at least the first semester, with the hope that it could
23. On October 16, 2020, the CPS announced a plan to resume in person learning
for pre-kindergarten and students in special education clusters. This plan did not
indicate a date by which CPS would implement this plan. In response, on October 23,
2020, CTU filed an unfair labor practice with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations
Board (“Board”), asserting that CPS failed to negotiate in good faith with it on an
issue of safety. The Board denied CTU’s request to enjoin CPS’s plan.
24. On November 17, 2020, CPS set forth the following schedule for return to in-
1 https://www.cbs58.com/news/chicago-public-schools-will-start-the-school-year-all-virtual.
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25. On December 7, 2020, CTU filed a renewed motion for injunctive relief with
the Board. That motion was denied by the Board by a 2-1 vote.
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26. On January 4, 2021, CPS began its return of pre-K and cluster program
teachers. Approximately 50% of the teachers that were required to return on January
4, did so. On Friday, January 8, 2021, CPS announced that any teacher who was
required to show up in person who did not starting Monday, January 11, would not
be paid.
27. On Thursday, January 21, 2021, CTU held a meeting of its delegates in which
it voted to approve a measure that would encourage its pre-K, cluster, and K-8
requirement that those teachers report to their school buildings starting that day.
The measure would authorize all teachers to stop work, remote and in-person, and
strike if CPS prevented its K-8 teachers from working remotely by cutting off their
remote access. CTU gave its members until midnight on Saturday, January 23, to
vote whether to authorize the measure. On Sunday, January 24, CTU announced that
86% of its membership submitted a vote on the measure, and of the members who
28. On Sunday, January 24, 2021, CPS acquiesced to CTU’s bad-faith behavior
and announced that it would allow its K-8 teachers to continue working remotely
29. CPS and CTU did not come to an immediate agreement, such that on Tuesday,
January 26, CPS announced to its parents that pre-K and cluster students should not
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report to school on Wednesday, January 27, because it could not guarantee enough
30. Eventually CTU and CPS reached an agreement to permit a return to in-
31. Ultimately CTU’s threats pushed back reopening of K-8 schools by at least a
month.
32. Meanwhile, under Governor Pritzker’s vaccine plan, teachers became eligible
to receive the COVID-19 vaccines on January 25, 2021, as part of “Phase 1B,” which
33. In March of 2021, CTU and CPS agreed that high schools would reopen for at
least partial in-person instruction on April 19, 2021, the beginning of the fourth
34. Under that schedule, Chicago Public High Schools would open more than a
month after elementary and middle schools reopened (on March 1 for kindergarten
through fifth grade and March 8 for sixth through eighth grade).
35. As with the other reopening agreements, the April 19 date would require CTU
members to report for in-person work prior to the first day of in-person classes.
Specifically, CTU members were expected to report for in-person work during the
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37. On April 11, 2021, CTU voted to put all of its teachers back on remote learning.
38. Therefore, CTU members failed to report for in-person work starting on April
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39. On April 15, 2021, CTU and CPS reached an agreement, which saw high school
III. CPS returned to in-person learning for the 2021–2022 school year
until CTU voted to refuse to teach in person starting January 5,
2022.
2021–2022 school year. From August 2021 through the end of 2021, CPS held district-
41. Just as they had been among the first to receive their initial doses, teachers
were eligible for COVID-19 booster shots by the end of September 2021.3 This is
42. Nonetheless, in December 2021, CTU began questioning the safety of in-person
schooling with the omicron-variant of COVID-19. On December 28, 2021, CTU held a
meeting of delegates and electronically polled its members if they would “support a
district-wide pause and temporary shift to remote learning.” Of the CTU members
who responded, 91% said they would participate in a “remote-work action” after
winter break.
3Megan Cerullo, Here are the workers now eligible for a COVID-19 booster shot, CBS News
(Sept. 27, 2021, 7:18 AM) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-booster-shot-
workers-eligible/.
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43. In response, CPS sent a district-wide email indicating that schools would
remain open for in-person education on Monday, January 3, 2022, the scheduled
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44. CTU continued to vocalize its concerns about teacher safety because of the
omicron variant of COVID-19, yet nonetheless did not call for a strike beginning
January 3, 2022. Teachers and students, thus, returned to school on January 3, and
January 4, 2022.
teaching, as required by CPS, and provide teaching remotely only, even though
teachers may not work remotely without approval of the Chicago Board of Education.
CTU initially would allow members to vote electronically until 9 PM, but extended
46. In response, CPS indicated that if CTU voted to withhold teaching in person,
January 5, 2022, because it could not ensure enough teachers would be available for
the students. In addition, CPS indicated that any teacher that did not show up to
work in-person on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, would not be paid and would be
47. At 10:51 PM on January 4, 2022, CTU announced that 73% of its members had
voted to withhold in-person teaching, and provide only remote teaching, starting
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January 5, 2022.4 Because CTU members refused to teach under the conditions set
strike.
48. CTU indicated that “The action will end when one of the following conditions
is met: The current surge in cases substantially subsides, or the mayor’s team at CPS
signs an agreement establishing conditions for return that are voted on and approved
2022 and again, on Thursday, January 6, 2022, because it could not guarantee enough
50. CTU never sent a notice of intent to strike to CPS, the regional superintendent,
or the Educational Labor Relations Board. And less than 24 hours elapsed from the
time CTU members voted on its measure to authorize a strike on January 4, 2022,
and when they did not show up for work in-person the next day, in contrast to the
requirement under Illinois law that 10 days elapse from the vote to authorize a strike
51. With respect to the issue of whether it is safe for teachers to return to school
in-person due to COVID-19, CPS and CTU have not engaged in mediation.
52. With respect to the issue of whether it is safe for teachers to return to school
in-person due to COVID-19, CPS and CTU have not engaged in any fact-finding
4 https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1478590050107543552?s=20.
5 https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1478590050107543552?s=20.
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FILED DATE: 1/6/2022 5:04 PM 2022CH00144
53. Section 13 of the Act provides the requirements for educational employees to
54. Article 34 of the School Code, 105 ILCS 5/34-1, applies only to cities having a
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55. Aside from 115 ILCS 5/13, no other provision in Illinois law authorizes CTU to
strike.
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authorizes CTU, its members, or CPS teachers to provide teaching remotely without
Count I
CTU’s strike is not authorized by Section 13 of the Act
or any other provision of Illinois law.
57. Plaintiffs reallege the preceding paragraphs of this Complaint as though fully
58. Section 13 of the Act, 115 ILCS 5/13, prohibits educational employees from
engaging in a strike unless specific conditions are met. Among those conditions, in
success and at least 14 days have elapsed after the Board has made
o The parties have not engaged in mediation over the safety issues
• 115 ILCS 5/13(b)(2.5) requires at least 30 days have elapsed after a fact-
finding report has been released for public information pursuant to fact-
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• 115 ILCS 5/13(b)(2.10) requires at least three-fourths of all bargaining
a strike.
• 115 ILCS 5/13(b)(3) requires that at least 10 days have elapsed after a
59. In summary, the conditions that the Act requires to have been met before
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60. Nonetheless, without a basis under Illinois law, CTU has instructed all of its
61. CTU has no basis to claim that its vote to withhold in-person learning is not a
strike. “[T]he test is not whether the union calls its action a strike, but whether the
effect of its action is equivalent to that of a strike. Chi. Bd. of Educ. v. Chi. Teachers
Union, *11 (Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, May 18, 2017). As stated,
teachers may not work remotely unless they have approval of the Chicago Board of
Education, which they do not have. “[T]he test is whether the union’s conduct
constitutes a concerted failure to report for work,” id. at *12, including a sick-out,
slow-down, or other work action not facially denominated a strike. Here, the union’s
conduct resulted in its members failing to report to work for in-person instruction,
62. Therefore, the actions of CTU to authorize its members, educational employees
of CPS, to strike by withholding in-person teaching for all of CPS, are illegal.
63. Plaintiffs, parents of CPS students, are harmed by CTU’s illegal actions
because their children are being denied schooling and they have had to secure child
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully pray that the Court grant the following relief:
between CPS and CTU provides that CTU may not authorize a strike and that CTU’s
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B. Enter a declaratory judgment that the facts of this case show that the
conditions required for educational employees to strike under Section 13 of the Act
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are not met and therefore CTU’s actions to stop in-person teaching constitute an
illegal strike;
CTU from continuing to authorize its members to stop in-person teaching unless and
until all the conditions set forth in Section 13 of the Act are met and such actions do
D. Award Plaintiffs damages in the form of lost income and the cost of securing
F. Award Plaintiffs any additional relief the Court deems just and proper.
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