Chicago Teachers Union wants taxpayers to hand $2K to each asylum-seeking student

When the Chicago Teachers Union negotiates its new contract this summer, one of the demands will be to give each asylum-seeking student $2,000. Why that’s CTU’s business and not for elected representatives to decide is anyone’s guess.

The Chicago Teachers Union is preparing to negotiate its new contract with 142 pages of demands, including that each asylum-seeking student receive $2,000.

Demanding teacher pay rise $51,000 might be excessive, but it’s understandable for CTU to be concerned about teacher performance, evaluation, compensation and benefits. But then there’s the rest of the 142 pages, which include a lot of things that have no logical link to workplace concerns.

What entitles CTU to demand a one-time, taxpayer-funded lump-sum payout to each asylum-seeking student? Maybe the fact that the taxpayers’ champion this summer will be one of CTU’s own: Mayor Brandon Johnson.

CTU’s demands and public pronouncements show they want to use the contract to force social change. It expects commitments from the mayor’s office to fund social justice, climate justice and other political goals unrelated to the conditions under which educators work.

How did CTU decide money was what asylum-seeking children need? How did it arrive at the amount? Why not hand money directly to every student in Chicago? Those are the types of questions elected leaders should debate to decide if giving $2,000 to migrant kids is a valid use of taxpayers’ money and will solve some problem. They are not the business of union bosses seeking to use the power they bought at City Hall.

Reminder: Johnson was elected to represent all the people of Chicago.