You have to give it to them. Chicago teachers aren't shy (or at least, their union isn't). 

The Second City's teachers union is in the midst of negotiating a new contract, and they just have a couple of little things they want—like an extra $50 billion, a figure which is approximately the same size as Illinois' total base tax receipts for the entire year—to pay for higher wages, money for illegal aliens, LGBTQ proposals, and, wait for it... free abortions.

Now, you might think that they're asking for so much because they've been doing such a spectacular job and should be rewarded for it. The problem with that theory? Only 21 percent of the city’s eighth graders are proficient at reading. 

Oh.

This is insane!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2024

And if given this massive pile of money, can we be sure they'll spend it wisely? Not according to Austin Berg, a vice president at Illinois Policy (a nonprofit fighting government corruption):

Here’s what we *do* know about CTU finances, straight from the reports they are required to file with the Department of Labor.

❌Political spending has exploded
❌Spending on members has declined
❌CTU now spends just 17 cents of every dollar on teacher representation pic.twitter.com/LqPvVzSI33

— Austin Berg (@Austin__Berg) May 5, 2024

According to a report, CTU's demands have not yet gone public, but leaked documents indicate they're asking for massive raises:

Union President Stacy Davis Gates’ audacious plan calls for members to bank at least 9% wage increases each year through fiscal year 2028.

The average salary of a teacher in Chicago Public Schools is $93,182, according to research by the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative nonprofit think tank. Therefore, the average teacher’s pay will increase by half to $144,620 in the 2027-2028 school year, it says.

That figure would equate to more than double the median household income in Chicago, according to Census Bureau statistics.

Unsurprisingly Gates isn't willing to put her money where her mouth is—she sends her son to a private school, even though she's on record saying school choice is "racist." But that doesn't mean she's not honest about the union's shakedown: "We are asking you to give us an opportunity to tell our story," she said in a March speech. "It will cost $50 billion and three cents… yes it will, and so what, that’s audacity."

She got one right there—this whole ploy is, in fact, the definition of "audacity."

Oh, but they're so not done. What else do they want? How about "100% coverage benefits for abortion care, 100% coverage benefits for fertility including full coverage for storage of embryos and any other frozen storage needs, $2,000 to be given to each migrant to help with academics, transportation and mental health counseling," and money to turn "unused school facilities to be converted into housing accommodation for migrants."

And, of course, they want a whole bunch of cash for gender issues, because that's what's really important when teaching kids about the skills they will need to become productive citizens.

There is also a whole host of other social justice provisions the union wants, including making sure workers and educators are trained annually on LGBTQ+ issues as a qualification in their job description.

The union also wants to mandate that every school in the district has at least one gender-neutral bathroom.

Additionally, it wants the board to adopt policies that would prohibit any member from being compelled to tell parents when a student rejects his or her sex, according to the documents.

I'm sure there are more requests, but I'll stop now because it's already reading like a bad (and very dark) comedy skit. Chicago is a failing city that's already strapped for cash and plagued by violence, yet these folks think now is the time to ask for the sky and aggressively push progressive policies. They'll probably have the full support of leftist Mayor Brandon Johnson, seeing as they heavily backed his election and he's a former CTU legislative coordinator.

Mailee Smith, senior director of labor policy at the Illinois Policy Institute, summed it up best:

"These demands read more like a political agenda than a serious contract intent on supporting teachers’ wages and benefits, and promoting the education of Chicago students," Smith said in a statement last month.

"These demands are far outside the scope of traditional bargaining, putting taxpayer dollars on the line in pursuit of more union power and social activism."

Blue-state policies have led to the ruin of too many of our great cities. This is just the latest example of progressivism run amok, and the greedy, woke demands of this corrupt teachers union will do nothing to help the kids in Chicago who desperately need real education and leadership. 

I spent my first nine years in the Windy City, and I loved it. To watch it sink into such decline hurts the heart. RedState's Andrew Malcolm spent many years there too, and he remembers both the good Chicago and the bad Chicago, and worries about its future:

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