CTU Election May 16 REAL v CORE

Will REAL Upset the Giant?

The Chicago Teachers Union members will vote this Friday May 16, 2025 in over 600 schools across the city to decide if they want to stay the course or elect another caucus to lead the union.

The battle is between CORE President Stacy Davis Gates versus REAL candidate Erika Meza.

The incumbent CORE has ruled the CTU for the past 15 years ever since they upset the UPC that similarly ruled for a long time until they were uprooted by CORE in 2010.

CORE has elevated the Chicago Teachers Union into a political powerhouse. They elected their very own organizer Brandon Johnson Mayor of the City of Chicago and implemented the first fully elected Chicago School Board.

Both feats are impressive and even unbelievable to those of us who remember the dark days of school privatization under Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel who declared war on the teachers union and public schools.

The CTU turned the tables by stopping school closures and halting the growth of charter schools, two very impressive victories for public education and the teachers union. These victories were a result of investing a lot of money into the political game.

But there has been backlash from those concerned that the union is focused too much on electing politicians at the expense of fighting for members’ rights. Two popular field reps were fired because they criticized the CTU for doing this.

The REAL caucus pointed out two problems in the debates - 1) Teachers are drowning in this system and 2) Teachers are afraid to file grievances against bully principals because they don’t feel the union has its back.

In the last election three caucuses ran: CORE, REAL and Members First. CORE won with about 55 percent of the vote and the rest was split between the other two.

They used Monday’s town hall meeting to showcase their big accomplishment - passing a ‘transformative contract.’ They said it was democracy in action because about 85 percent of the members voted, and 97 percent voted in favor of the contract. A good teacher’s contract is the bread and butter of unionism. They said the contract vote proves how democratic the Chicago Teachers Union is.

However, Meza disagrees with this assessment. She learned from member feedback at the schools that nobody was willing to strike over the remaining contract items and members were tired. That explains the 97 percent favorable vote because there were no other options, she said.

“We get three days to vote on strike authorization, two days to vote on the TA and only one day to vote on leadership election day,” Meza said in response. “Many schools will only be able to vote in the morning because the ballot boxes will be picked up by 11.”

“Let’s see if we can get that 85 percent turnout for this vote,” she said.

When it comes to grit, Meza really wants to connect with the members. She has visited over a hundred schools passing out flyers and speaking to everyone, from security guards and clerks, to teachers and counselors. She tells them only 17 percent of the CTU budget goes toward fighting for members in the schools and she wants to increase that number to improve member working conditions and students' learning conditions.

REAL promises to have an emergency hotline for immediate member needs, transparency in financial practices, and representation for all members. Meza said this means inclusivity in committees and at the bargaining table. REAL wants to focus on issues and politics that directly impact members and work to restore solidarity.

A big concern for CTU members is the pension. The union is divided between Tier 1 v Tier 2 Pensions. A majority of teachers were hired after 2011 and they receive an inferior pension that mandates they can’t retire until 67, not to mention they earn less than Social Security. That’s how bad it’s gotten!

Erika Meza has been the leader in this fight to repeal the Tier 2 law. She is the Chair of the Tier 2 Pension Committee. She has a strong understanding of finance and pensions and has spoken out at several Pension Board meetings about the high fees the Fund pays to money managers, many with political connections.

“Our slate has more union leadership experience and years in the profession as teachers than CORE did when they were elected in 2010,” Meza said. “We are ready to lead on day one.”

So don’t count REAL out. They may be the underdogs, but they are speaking to the people on the ground, the troops in the trenches dealing with an increasingly bureaucratic school system hell bent on cold data and harsh punishment (for teachers, not students). The political game is being fought on all sides while those in the schools continue to suffer.

Erika Meza did defeat CORE before when she won her election at Washington High School to become the associate delegate. She ran against a teacher who the CTU promoted heavily fighting for environmental justice on the Southeast Side. Erika won her election by taking her case to the members focusing on the issues that concern them, and she won. She said she also intentionally encouraged paraprofessionals and nominated them onto the PPC while the CORE delegate did not nominate any PSRPs.

Can she do it again?

CPS teachers and all CTU members will decide if they want to continue under this leadership, or vote for change. Voting is this Friday, May 16!