A federal judge in Chicago tossed the class action lawsuit brought by teachers who claimed a U.S. Supreme Court decision should invalidate union member agreements that give members one time per year to quit the union.
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied appeal petitions in three cases arguing courts have been wrong to allow unions to use a "good faith" defense to keep millions in fees deducted for the unions by governments from the paychecks of non-union government workers.
A math teacher working in the Chicago Public Schools is seeking the chance to argue before the Supreme Court that the Chicago Teachers Union's claims to be his exclusive bargaining representative is unconstitutional, and that the union must refund fees it collected unconstitutionally.
A pair of teachers are suing the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Board of Education for allegedly breaching teachers' freedom of speech, by deducting union dues to subsidize the union's political positions without members' consent.
A federal judge has dismissed a teachers union class action against the Chicago Public Schools board, which alleged discrimination against blacks was behind teacher layoffs, finding color blind bureaucracy, not racism, determined who received pink slips.
Alaina Hampton, a woman who has claimed Illinois Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, blackballed her in retaliation for complaining a Madigan operative sexually harassed her, has settled her case with Madigan, the state Democratic Party and other Madigan-controlled political organizations.
Non-traditional bargaining points, including "common good" affordable housing and other social justice demands are among the sticking points keeping City Hall and Chicago Teachers Union from a strike-ending deal. But the city and others question whether contract talks are the place to deal with such political questions.
A woman claiming Illinois Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, have denied her jobs after she complained a Madigan operative sexually harassed her, is trying to force a reluctant Chicago Teachers Union to turn over documents to aid her lawsuit.
The woman who has claimed Democrats in Illinois and Chicago, led by House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, blackballed her in retaliation for complaining of sexual harassment at the hands of a Madigan operative, has provided further details to her claims, naming names of prominent Chicago Democrats who declined to hire her out of fear of further retribution from Madigan’s team.
Chicago's public schools leaders jumped the gun in filing suit against its teachers union, a Chicago federal judge has ruled, saying he can't give the Chicago Board of Education the court opinion it seeks declaring the board has the right to restrict the speech of certain members of the Chicago Teachers Union school officials accused of being "vulgar and intimidating" at school administration meetings.
Over the objections of the Chicago Public Schools board, a federal judge will allow the Chicago Teachers Union to pursue a class action lawsuit alleging CPS discriminated in focusing past teacher layoffs at African American teachers and staff working in schools in predominantly African American neighborhoods.
In the wake of a decision by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to kill a $215 million state bailout for Chicago Public Schools’ pension funds, the Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on whether to dole out about $155 million annually to two private vendors to take charge of building maintenance at about 470 Chicago public schools.
Even as Illinois' governor has openly discussed the possibility the Chicago Public Schools could seek bankruptcy protection, a municipal bankruptcy expert has noted only four school districts have declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the past 62 years, and two of those abandoned the process.
In Illinois, increasing pension obligations are consuming more of its taxpayers’ dollars, pushing cities and towns to cut core services and raise property taxes just to keep up with the payments, policy experts say.
Two Mississippi and Alabama hospitals and the county that includes the cities of Biloxi and Gulfport, Miss., have squared off in Chicago federal court with many of the country’s biggest financial institutions over so-called interest rate swaps — an issue now impacting governments and other public bodies throughout the country, including Chicago’s public schools system.
The Chicago Teachers Union and one of its lawyers have been served with a $5 million legal malpractice lawsuit brought by a Chicago Public Schools teacher who alleged the lawyer didn’t properly represent her in hearings surrounding CPS’ efforts to fire her.
Saying to rule otherwise would illegally limit the ability of the Chicago Public Schools and other school districts to choose to hire or not hire teachers, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled 6-1 to reject the Chicago Teachers’ Union’s attempt to force the Chicago Board of Education to arbitrate grievances over how CPS designates probationary teachers it ultimately opts not to hire.
The Chicago Teachers Union and three black, tenured Chicago Public Schools teachers suing the city's Board of Education over allegations administrators engaged in racial discrimination by targeting schools staffed predominantly by black teachers for reorganization purposes will not be allowed to turn their suit into a class action.
