Progress Illinois

Catalyst notes that the Illinois Labor Relations Board yesterday certified the union seeking to represent "a group of 125 teachers and staff at the three campuses" run by CITS/Civitas Schools, Illinois' largest charter school chain.  If the decision stands, the Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff (ACTS) would be the first charter school teachers union in the state. More from their blog post:

Teachers at Civitas schools want a recognized voice in school decision making. They say teacher turnover spiked in the wake of increased class loads.

Speaking to reporters at the Education Writers Association conference in Washington, D.C., this week, AFT President Randi Weingarten weighed in organizing charter school teachers.

Weingarten charged that charter advocates are fighting “tooth and nail” against teacher unionization drives, most notably at KIPP Amps school in New York and at Civitas schools in Chicago.

But there's a separate certification battle going on before the National Labor Relations Board and that's where Civitas is pushing back, as Catalyst goes on to explain:

After learning that a majority of its teachers had submitted union cards to the state labor board in April, lawyers for Civitas petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hear the case instead. They argued that Civitas teachers are technically private employees, working for a nonprofit, and are not subject to the state labor board’s jurisdiction.

If the national board accepts the case, it could force teachers to reconsider their union bid in a secret ballot, giving Civitas administrators time to craft a case against unionization. As CEO Simon Hess puts it, Civitas wants teachers to be able “to make an informed decision” in a private setting.

Now the NLRB must figure out whether the unionization effort falls under jurisdiction or the state's.  Talking to the Chi-Town Daily News last month, Chicago International Charter School teacher Jeremy Ly explained why the unionization is the state's business:

Ly argues that because his charter school receives public money, it should be subject to the same labor practices of regular public schools.

"In every essence, it is a public school," Ly says. [...]

"They could voluntarily recognize us today and start the bargaining process," Ly says of administrators. Instead, "they're paying lawyers all this money."

The ball is in the NLRB's court and we'll be watching to see what they do next.  In the meantime, learn more about the effort here.