CTU challenger hopes member dissatisfaction leads to upset win against union president

Meza hopes CTU member dissatisfaction leads to upset win over Davis-Gates

Will the Chicago Teachers Union elect new leadership? Erika Meza is hoping member dissatisfaction carries her to victory over Stacy Davis-Gates.

CHICAGO - Chicago Teachers Union members could know by early Saturday whether President Stacy Davis-Gates will stay in power — or whether challenger Erika Meza has pulled off a surprise victory.

"There hasn't been transparency about our audits, about our finances," Meza said on Friday afternoon after finishing teaching a class at George Washington Elementary on the Southeast Side.

Meza says she hopes to ride a growing wave of member dissatisfaction with leadership to catapult her to an upset victory over controversial longtime union leader Stacy Davis-Gates.

Meza echoes concerns that Davis-Gates and the ruling faction known as 'CORE' have failed to produce financial audits. Just yesterday, a judge rejected CTU's motion to dismiss a lawsuit from some of its members demanding answers.

"Even the legal side of this is in agreement that there is some type of transparency lacking in our union," Meza said.

Meza is running as leader of a faction of the CTU known as 'REAL.' She says the union has spent too much money and focus on politics, putting member concerns to the side.

Austin Berg of the libertarian think tank Illinois Policy Institute says it's been a losing proposition. According to an IPI analysis, the union spent nearly $3 million on recent elected school board elections – and lost three quarters of those races.

Meza and Berg say CTU is more concerned with politics than taking care of members.

"Folks are realizing that it's more of a political machine, it's not really about the interests of the rank and file teacher. A lot of that money is going straight to politics," Berg said.

Davis-Gates led the often combative year-long contract negotiations with CPS, which netted teachers 4–5 percent raises per year. It was approved by 97% of the voting members. But CTU's public image hasn't fared as well – with once-positive approval ratings taking a significant hit as the public has turned against not only CTU but the political movement it leads.

"Now today you see their favorability ratings in the 30s, with their leader Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, also extraordinarily unpopular," Berg said.

A spokesperson for Davis-Gates did not respond to requests for comment.