Former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez suggests that a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union is unlikely due to the ongoing legal restriction on the board.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Fired Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez was back in court Wednesday fighting to keep a temporary restraining order in place.

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“It’s just allowing me to do my job, we are not asking for anything extra that is not allowed by law in my contract,” Martinez said.

Martinez claims the TRO is preventing the Chicago Teacher’s Union, Mayor Brandon Johnson and a majority mayoral controlled school board from taking away his power to negotiate a new teachers contract.

“As soon as the TRO is lifted, they will have the board dictate all the original proposals, regardless of how much harm to provide children, regardless of what kind of financial distress they put the district in,” Martinez said.

How to pay for the new contract has been in dispute for months. Martinez refused to take out a short-term high interest loan. He said while both sides are close on salary and some non-economic issues, the district cannot afford to add more staff to reduce class sizes system-wide. Since the last contract CPS has added 7,000 staff members.

“This union has said repeatedly that this contract has to honor and be anchored in what young people need. And what young people need or smaller class,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said.

Gates said both sides cannot reach an agreement on evaluations for teachers in underserved schools.

“This contract is about retaining Black teachers who are being unfairly rated,” Gates said.

Gates has sent a letter to Martinez urging him to settle soon and a letter to the Board of Education asking members to push Martinez to come to a conclusion.

“We have not seen any signs that they are going to back down,” Martinez said.

Martinez said he was sending a letter to CPS families on Wednesday giving them an update on negotiations.

Meanwhile, the union has mentioned the possibility of a strike vote, however, Martinez doubts CTU will walk off the job since he says they are being offered a salary that makes CPS some of the highest paid in the country.

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