Chicago Educators File Suit against CTU To Work During Strike

With free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation(of which CEAFU is a Special Project) staff attorneys, two Chicago Public School educators have filed a federal class-action civil rights lawsuit against the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Board of Education. The suit challenges a union policy that blocks teachers from exercising their First Amendment right to stop payments to the union outside of the month of August. The lawsuit also seeks refunds of all dues seized as a result of the unconstitutional policy, which the Board of Education enforces.

The complaint, filed for Joanne Troesch, a Technology Coordinator at Jones College Prep, and Joanne Troesch, a second-grade teacher at Newberry Math and Science Academy, charges CTU officials breached the First Amendment protections laid out in the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court decision.