Teachers in the 10th-largest school district in Illinois may be on the picket lines instead of in classrooms with students on Sept. 18. Romeoville and Bolingbrook teachers are paid more than the state average but are pushing for more.
The teachers union at Valley View Community School District 365U will strike on Sept. 18 if an agreement is not reached before then, meaning 14,660 students in Romeoville and Bolingbrook’s 20 schools may see their educations interrupted just as the school year starts.
Compensation is a top issue, despite Valley View teachers earning more than the state average. The state average is $75,978 and Valley View teachers average $79,497.
Walking out on students has become a go-to strategy for many affiliates of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which includes Valley View Council Local 604 and its 1,800 members.
But the union should beware: the strike tactic could backfire, with community members turning on them like Chicagoans have done with its sister union, the Chicago Teachers Union.
Teacher union strikes are a tactic that bullies school districts into doing what the unions want. Districts don’t want to shut students out of school, and unions know that. That’s why most states don’t allow teachers to strike: holding students’ hostage is an unfair bargaining tactic.
At least 37 states, including all of Illinois’ neighbors, have laws prohibiting teacher strikes.
Valley View Council Local 604 decision to strike isn’t a surprise, given its affiliation with IFT. IFT is also the parent affiliate of the CTU, which provides a case study in how Illinois unions aggressively use this power. In just the past 13 years, CTU has walked out on students five times:
- In 2012, a strike during contract negotiations kept kids out of classes for seven days.
- On April 1, 2016, the union conducted an illegal one-day strike in response to alleged “union-busting” efforts by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.
- In 2019, a strike during contract negotiations closed schools for 11 days.
- In January 2021, classes were canceled when CTU refused to return to school for in-person learning following COVID-19 closures.
- In January 2022, CTU walked out on school children for five days. Parents were notified of the walkout after 11 p.m. on a school night, leaving them just hours to develop a back-up plan after the union decided not to show up for Chicago’s children.
But those militant tactics could be backfiring. CTU is now hugely unpopular with Chicagoans. Recent polling shows 60% of Chicago voters have an unfavorable view of the union and more than half disapprove of the union’s president, Stacy Davis Gates. Of the 798 registered Chicago voters polled, only 29% approved of CTU, down from 44% in February 2023.
CTU’s fall from public favor should be a warning sign to the Valley View Council as it nears its strike date.
