It appears that support is falling for teachers unions.
But perhaps the hammer of goodwill has dropped the hardest on the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), a political behemoth that helped elect Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
A poll in March showed that fewer than 27.5% of Chicago voters have a favorable opinion of CTU. More than half actively dislike the union. Half are less likely to vote for a candidate who takes money from the union.
The CTU filed a lawsuit this week blaming their tanking popularity on the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI), a Chicago-based, free-market nonprofit think tank, and the Liberty Justice Center, a national public interest law firm based in Austin, TX that focuses on individual rights. The CTU claims these organizations have conducted a deliberate smear campaign that has rendered the union politically “toxic.”
“Falsely accusing a labor union of fraud, dishonest accounting, and misuse of funds strikes at the heart of the Union’s integrity, fitness, and ability to represent and advocate for its approximately 30,000 member-educators,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in Cook County Circuit Court.
CTU Deputy General Counsel Thad Goodchild also accuses the defendants of racism, noting CTU President Stacy Davis Gates is Black and “they see the threat of Black women’s leadership.”
Much of the criticism surrounding the CTU related to transparency.
A lawsuit filed in 2024 by the Liberty Justice Center and four union members alleges the CTU violated members’ rights by refusing to release financial audits dating back to 2019. A Cook County judge refused to dismiss the lawsuit, which means the CTU may have to open its books. The U.S. Department of Labor also informed the CTU of an audit of its annual financial report.
The CTU argues the audit reports were delayed due to the pandemic, staffing turnover, and the impact of a lawsuit to protect pension benefits.
But the CTU isn’t the only organization that represents teachers which is fighting a tide of criticism. So too are the National Education Association (NEA), which represents about three million teachers, and the 1.8-million-member American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
