Chicago Teachers Union leaders face challenge from within their ranks following COVID-19 work action that canceled school for five days
In a phone interview Tuesday, Davis Gates said the split in the latest rank-and-file vote wasn’t about union leadership, but “had everything to do with our boss and the frustration and the exhaustion that our members feel when they don’t have partnership.”“We lost scores of Black kids years prior to 2010 through school closings and school turnaround. Right now we have a moratorium on school closings that’s legally binding,” Davis Gates said.
Responding to accusations that CTU leaders are more interested in advancing their own political careers, Davis Gates emphasized her priorities are being a mom to three CPS students and advocating for students and CTU members through her union leadership role. However, she didn’t rule out a mayoral run Tuesday.
CTU has about 25,000 members. It’s unclear how many of these educators align with Members First, but about 5,600 people belong to the caucus’s Facebook group. The Members First slate includes vice president candidate Sandi Hoggatt, a case manager at Kenwood Academy High School; recording secretary candidate María Soto, a clerk at George Washington High School; and financial secretary candidate Philip Weiss, a social worker at Rickover Naval Academy.