Chicago Teachers Union president paid over $269K but hides union financial records

Public records show the Chicago Teachers Union and other union entities pay Stacy Davis Gates a very healthy salary. But union transparency ends there. CTU is refusing to show members how it spends their money, despite that mandate in CTU’s rules.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates makes over $269,000 a year, according to public records of her union employers.

But the CTU president is fighting that kind of transparency about union spending, even though it’s mandated in the union’s rules. It’s been four years since members have seen audits of how the union spends their dues, and that refusal comes as public records show CTU’s spending millions on political campaigns.

Davis Gates’ income is from multiple union entities including CTU, its state affiliate the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO. It includes at least:

• $187,530 as president of the CTU, according to CTU’s 2024 federal filing with the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s up almost $12,000 from the previous year.
• $77,444 as executive vice president of IFT, according to IFT’s 2023 federal filing with the U.S. Department of Labor. The union has not yet filed its 2024 report.
• $4,500 as executive board member of the AFL-CIO, according to its 2023 Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

That’s nearly 4.5 times the average private-sector income of a Chicago metro resident, who brings in just $60,905 a year, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Just the IFT portion alone of Davis Gates’ income surpasses the average Illinois teacher salary of $75,978.

Davis Gates isn’t the only CTU employee taking home a large union salary. More than 50 CTU employees made $100,000 or more in the 2023-2024 fiscal year. That doesn’t include any other additional income streams from union affiliates.

While Davis Gates and her colleagues’ salaries are public, the union hasn’t released an annual audit for four years despite internal rules mandating their release. Members have been forced to sue to have the audits released.

Other public records show CTU’s members have cause for concern:

• Less than 20% of the union’s spending is on representing members, according to its 2024 fiscal year filing with the U.S. Department of Labor.
• The union spent nearly $2.3 million in 2023 to get Mayor Brandon Johnson elected
• CTU recently spent $1.74 million on the CPS board election, yet only won three races and had a fourth uncontested of the 10 seats it wanted to fill.
• The union has funneled nearly $1.6 million to lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly.
• The union raised its dues by $160 for its 2024 fiscal year, most likely to compensate for some of its financial missteps.

Those who have dared question CTU’s finances have been targeted with insults by Davis Gates. Others have just left the union altogether.

And while CTU’s lack of accountability demonstrates its disrespect for members’ hard-earned money, it’s also indicative of its feelings toward Chicago’s taxpayers.

The union is demanding more than $10 billion in additional provisions in its new contract with CPS. After all, if CTU doesn’t respect its own members and their money, it certainly doesn’t respect the Chicagoans footing the bill for their exorbitant demands.