solar panel. heat pump. electric bus. These are just three of the things the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) hopes to win in recent new contract negotiations. This addresses the growing harms of climate change in the more than 500 schools where our members teach.
CTU, one of the nation’s most powerful teachers unions, held open negotiations Friday as it faced off with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) leaders in a crowded elementary school gymnasium.
The two groups have a contentious relationship, which has been evident through two strikes and several confrontations during the pandemic over the past decade. The negotiations were also streamed, but observers expecting the usual verbal fireworks will be disappointed. Both sides agreed that climate change is a real challenge. Now all you have to do is figure out how to pay for the changes you need.
“Chicago’s buildings, including school buildings, are a major source of carbon emissions,” said Lauren Bianchi, a social studies teacher on the city’s southeast side and chair of CTU’s Climate Justice Committee. “CPS buildings produce the carbon equivalent of approximately 900 rail cars worth of coal per year.”
Nationwide, the Biden administration has encouraged school districts to start thinking about reducing climate emissions. To achieve this, the federal government has invested millions of dollars in federal grants and technical assistance to help schools install solar panels, purchase electric buses, and update heating and cooling systems. but California to MassachusettsTeachers unions have already begun to speak out about their demands for climate justice.
As the climate crisis makes heat and extreme weather more prevalent, J. Char Mijin, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said it makes sense for climate demands to feature in union negotiations.
“If we want green schools, we need to think seriously about what challenges the climate crisis will bring to students trying to study,” Cha said. “Things like heat that is getting worse due to the climate crisis are education issues.”
Last April, union president Stacey Davis Gates announced:transformative”A contract offer where wage increases are only the starting point. The plan included hundreds of items, from plans to build more affordable housing throughout the city to providing additional resources for the thousands of migrant children brought to Chicago from the Mexican border. Additionally, the union wants energy efficiency and climate resilience to be specified in the new contract.
First, CTU wants to bring the district’s aging infrastructure into the 21st century. Chicago’s school campuses are, on average, over 80 years old. This figure is twice the national average. National Center for Education Statistics. The oldest school still in operation dates back to 1874, the year of the Great Chicago Fire.
And it doesn’t cost much to keep the lights on in the city’s older public schools.
Juan Pablo Ramirez-Franco / Grist
“Chicago Public Schools will cost more than $1 billion in climate-related cooling costs by 2025,” explained environmental science teacher Ayesha Qazi-Lampert.
CTU wants to transform the city’s schools into “climate-resilient community hubs,” Qazi-Lampert told the crowd. To that end, the union wants the district to install heat pumps, convert to solar and geothermal power and eliminate all lead contamination from school drinking water.
Outside of school campuses, teachers unions want more green space: expanded urban canopies and native gardens to beautify neighborhoods and capture stormwater.
“Our school buildings are not designed to withstand frequent and immediate extremes of heat and cold,” Qazi-Lampert said. “Not only are we testing the integrity of building materials, but we are also adding stress to already outdated heating and cooling systems.”
It’s not just the physical infrastructure the union wants to modernize, it’s also what happens inside classrooms and cafeterias. CTU is calling for expanded career technical education to help Chicago students find jobs in the emerging clean energy economy. And we’re providing better lunches so students can eat well while learning at our new solar-powered school.
But these updates are neither fast nor cheap. Money is tight, especially in the coming year. CPS is projecting a deficit of nearly $400 million next school year as pandemic relief funds begin to dry up.
This California high school includes sustainability and green jobs in its curriculum.
Ivan Hansen, CPS’ chief facilities officer, said there’s already a backlog of delayed updates on top of the impending budget shortfall. “Our region-wide urgent need is over $3 billion and that’s just to get our buildings properly repaired,” he said.
Nonetheless, CPS leadership agrees with the union on the broadest points. CPS agrees with the union in that it accounts for more than 62 million square feet of building space across the city, much of which is in decline. The city still had questions about the finer details.
For example, David Singler, CPS’ energy and sustainability program manager, rejected the union’s plan to install solar panels en masse. “If we took every square inch of the roof and put solar panels on it, we would only generate a fraction of the amount of energy needed to run the building,” he said.
Before concluding the first public negotiation session, CPS and CTU agreed to work more closely together on future grant applications. Most of what else was left up in the air.
But the union plans to ensure the district includes climate mitigation proposals in its upcoming contract. Davis Gates explains that responding to climate change should be a priority for the district as well as the union.
“The contract means nothing if the earth is burning,” she said.
