House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Rick W. Allen (R-GA) have addressed concerns to Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates regarding the union’s lack of financial transparency over the past five years.
In a letter sent to President Gates, Representatives Walberg and Allen stated: “The Committee on Education and Workforce (Committee) is investigating whether reforms to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) are necessary to protect union members’ rights in light of certain failures by the [CTU]. Specifically, evidence indicates that CTU has failed to provide its members with complete financial audits since 2020. This failure to disclose financial information strips dues-paying members of their basic right to understand how their money is spent. The Committee intends to determine how this breakdown in transparency occurred, which will inform its potential reforms to the LMRDA.”
The letter also raised concerns about alleged efforts by CTU leadership to withhold audit information from its members. It continued: “The Committee understands that CTU leadership has actively sought to keep complete financial information from its own members who continue to request that audits be published. For example, we understand that you impugned a member’s request that audits be published by maligning the request as a racist ‘dog whistle.’ The Committee is concerned that CTU has undertaken a half-decade long, concerted effort to deny its members the complete audit information to which they are entitled under the union’s by-laws.”
The lawmakers concluded: “By withholding complete financial audits from its members, CTU has failed to uphold the spirit of union transparency or comply with its own by-laws. As such, the Committee is investigating this matter to better determine whether the LMRDA should be amended to strengthen its requirements so that union members have access to more robust and timely financial information. Every dollar paid by workers should serve their interests, not those of a select few operating in the shadows.”
This inquiry comes as Congress emphasizes worker rights regarding transparency in union operations.
