Merger Forces Chicago Teachers Union to Come Clean, Part 1

Chicago Sun-Times reporters reveal Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) power and wealth exploring the union’s new LM-2.  The U.S. Department of Labor requires all unions representing one or more private sector employees to file an LM-2 form annually.   The form reports all union spending so union members and others can explore how their dues dollars are spent.   CTU’s merge with another union representing private charter school teachers, Alliance for Charter Schools Staff (ACTS) forced the union to file an LM-2, opening the union’s finances up to the scrutiny of their members and the public.  This merger with a private charter school union, of course, also puts the lie to teacher unions’ aversion to charter schools.  The merger, as FitzPatrick and Issa point out, however, may have been necessary as CTU’s membership decreased and the charter school union’s membership increased.  Lauren FitzParick and Nader Issa have the story on the Chicago Sun-Times website.

“We examined how the CTU uses its considerable financial muscle and found nearly $1.5 million from its dues-funded budget went to politics and lobbying over 15 months.

As it geared up for a two-week strike last fall, the Chicago Teachers Union spent nearly $1.5 million from the dues it collects from members on lobbying and other political activity, a Chicago Sun-Times examination of the clout-heavy union’s finances has found.