The president of the Chicago Teachers Union explains how climate change became a pillar of the union’s contract demands
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates speaks at a labor rally on Oct. 7, 2023, in Chicago.The Chicago Teachers Union started contract negotiations last week with two unprecedented moves: It opened bargaining to the public and began talks by focusing on climate action.
“What our union does, I think, better than most places is we connect the dots,” she said in a recent interview with POLITICO's E&E News. “Poverty doesn't just manifest in school policy; it manifests in environmental policy and manifests in housing policy. So the impacts that we are experiencing in our school communities are connected.”
Our union doubles down in a way that most unions don't. We changed our constitution to reflect social, racial and economic justice. And then we've also practiced, with fidelity, a type of unionism where our proposals reflect the needs of the larger community. Because what's important to know about my union is that our members live in every neighborhood in their city. We're required to live here.
Many of the proposals come from the experiences that our communities are having — specifically Altgeld Gardens and the southeast side of our city. Altgeld Gardens was used as a toxic dump. It's also where public housing exists. It's also where Black people live. On the southeast side of town, it is a Mexican-American community that has often been deprioritized for investment and expansion of public accommodations.
What our union does, I think, better than most places is we connect the dots. Poverty doesn't just manifest in school policy; it manifests in environmental policy and manifests in housing policy. So the impacts that we are experiencing in our school communities are connected. And so again, what is the union's responsibility to the broader community in which we serve?
Here's the thing: Institutions have to have checks and balances. Our collective bargaining agreement is a check and a balance. So how does that reflect what's beneficial for our overall sustainability? Well, the boss is always going to tell us that they don't have it. I mean, I don't get anxious or angry at the boss telling me that they don't have money. That's literally the first rule of being a boss in contract negotiations, is to tell the worker that they don't have any resources for anything that they're asking for.
Is this a model that other unions can draw from? How does this fit into the landscape of organized labor?
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