The CTU is asking for the sun, the moon, and a few stray planetoids in its initial bargaining demands. As CTU President Stacey Davis Gates only half joked, the full proposal would cost “$50 billion and three cents.” Included in the proposal are 9% annual pay hikes for all teachers, a 15% salary bump for any teachers who achieve national certification, a jump in paid sick days from the current 12 a year to as many as 30, and housing assistance for teachers who now make an average of more than $100,000 a year.
On the staffing side, the CTU wants each school, even those with just a few dozen students, to have a librarian, assistant librarian, restorative justice coordinator, reading specialist, newcomer liaison and more. Plus 2,500 new teacher’s assistants. Not to mention free transit passes for all teachers and students, funding for thousands of new affordable apartments and $2,000 stipends for each student asylum-seeker. Among other things.
It's for the children...
