CTU president Jesse Sharkey wins re-election

Chicago Teachers Union president Jesse Sharkey won re-election Friday night along with a slate of fellow officers from the caucus that has controlled the powerful labor group for the last nine years.

Sharkey and other members of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) took about two-thirds of the CTU member vote overall compared to challengers on the Members First ticket.

Sharkey, who took the CTU helm last summer when Karen Lewis stepped down due to health issues, issued a warning to Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot ahead of her inauguration on Monday.

“We hope that the new mayor makes good on her promises to transform our public schools — if she does, she will find us to be a steadfast ally. If she does not, she will find us to be an implacable foe,” Sharkey said.

The union endorsed Lightfoot’s opponent in the April runoff, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who lost in a landslide.

One of Lightfoot’s first major hurdles will be striking a deal with the teachers union, whose current contract expires at the end of June.

Bargaining has been underway for months, though, as CTU members filed their first contract proposals to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office in January. Among their demands, they’re seeking 5% across-the-board raises, reduced class sizes and bolstered staffing.

Sharkey said conditions in Chicago Public Schools “have reached a breaking point,” citing the district’s beleaguered special education program, fallout from a system-wide sexual abuse crisis and a shortage of nurses, counselors and social workers.

“This must change. The CTU will work to dramatically improve the conditions in our schools and usher in an elected representative school board,” he said.

The union has also laid out “social demands” including sanctuary status for undocumented students and increased availability of affordable housing — issues outside the classroom that have been a hallmark of CORE leadership since Lewis took over the CTU in 2010 and famously butted heads with Emanuel, leading to the 2012 teachers strike.

CTU vice president Stacy Davis Gates and financial secretary Maria Moreno also held their posts as CORE members in Friday’s election, along with recording secretary Christel Williams-Hayes, who replaces the outgoing Michael Brunson.