Bernie Sanders weighs in on latest CPS-CTU tussle: ‘Give veteran teachers the respect they have earned’

The Chicago Teachers Union is getting support once again from a prominent presidential candidate, this time for a dispute that has remained unresolved since last fall’s historic teachers strike.

The union and Chicago Public Schools officials are arguing over $25 million that was promised for the district’s longest-serving teachers.

The CTU wants that money handed out as base pay raises and claims CPS already agreed to do so, while CPS is looking to give bonuses instead and denies any prior agreement on raises.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a vocal supporter of the CTU, weighed in on the issue Wednesday on Twitter.

“I was proud to stand with @CTULocal1 in their strike to win the school resources Chicago’s student deserve,” he wrote. “Chicago Public Schools must live up to their agreement, bargain in good faith and give veteran teachers the respect they have earned.”

Sanders visited Chicago in September to rally with CPS teachers and school support staff workers who were on the verge of what turned out to be an 11-day strike.

The deal that ended the walkout included an agreement to give $25 million for veteran teachers, whose annual pay bumps for experience largely end after they’ve worked for the district for 14 years. (The veteran teachers still get cost-of-living raises.)

Now the two sides are embroiled in a new fight to figure out how to pay out the promised $25 million, including whether teachers will see the money permanently raise their salaries beyond the life of the five-year contract or whether the payments will cease by the end of the deal.