In Blow to CORE Leadership, Chicago Teachers Union Members Defeat Dues Hike Proposal

Membership rejects CORE Caucus' attempt to extort $8.5 million in dues increases

Chicago Teachers Union members rejected a cash grab proposal floated by union leadership to hike teacher's dues so they could use the money on more political activities.

As of the end of May, more than 60 percent of teachers voted "No" on the CTU's plan to hike dues to spend on the coming school board elections, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Under the plan, the structure under which dues are collected would have been amended and would have seen experienced educators paying up to $800 more annually. CTU bosses had wanted a hike in dues so they could put nearly half of the resulting $8.5 million to additional political spending. However, in a serious blow to leadership, the teachers had other ideas.

Chicago's 30,000 CTU members currently pay an annual fee of $1,476 each that is taken in increments weekly from their pay checks. Clearly, teachers feel this is quite enough for their leaders to make do with.

But leadership wanted to play a more "progressive" game with dues and make the fee proportional to a teacher's income. The plan was if they make more, they pay more in dues.

The CTU is already facing a $4.2 million deficit under its current budget. But instead of cutting the budget, leadership just wanted more cash from members. How liberal of them.

Regardless, it's all about politics, not education. And the most current political issue is the coming election of the 20 members of the Chicago Board of Education. The CTU is racing to pack the board with as many of its own allies as possible. With the first fully elected board of all 20 seats up for reelection, union leaders are feeling the urgency to throw as much money at the races as they can.

"We must win a majority of the first 21-person, fully elected school board in November," CTU officials told members. "Millions in dark-money donations are trying to ensure record school board closings and austerity instead of a fully funded district."

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But the members said no. They want CTU money spent on teachers and students, not more left-wing politics.

"For the past month, our members have engaged in robust debate about a constitutional amendment to make our dues more equitable and fortify our union for the rising costs, fights, and accelerating attacks against public education and workers ahead of us," a letter from CTU leadership reads. "While not all votes have yet been tabulated, the results seem clear - a majority of CTU members have elected not to implement the proposed dues restructuring at this time. With approximately 80% of schools counted, if current voting trends hold, roughly 60% of members voted against moving forward with this proposal right now."

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It wasn't just mild pique by members, either. Since Stacy Davis Gates became CTU president, political spending has already quadrupled and members have noticed.

"In its 2025 fiscal year, the union spent over $4.2 million on 'political activities and lobbying' — a record high since CTU started filing annual reports with the U.S. Labor Department," according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

Members obviously feel slighted, because according to the numbers, the union only spends 18 cents out of every dollar on members for "representative activities," while the rest goes to exorbitant CTU salaries and political campaigning.

This is all approved by the same Stacy Davis Gates who won't allow her own son to go to a Chicago public school. And apparently the rank and file are sick of it.

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