It happened on Friday, Jan. 16, when leadership at the Chicago Teachers Union published financial information that they had kept hidden for years.
The CTU’s internal bylaws require leadership to produce an audit for members every year. But the last audit ever shown to members was posted Sept. 9, 2020.
So members concerned with basic transparency—especially as the union transformed into the city’s largest political spender and Mayor Brandon Johnson’s top financial backer—had been demanding to see those audits ever since.
In return, those members endured lies and bullying from CTU leadership.
But their persistence paid off.1
The newly published audits reveal several inconsistencies in union reporting that may have led to misstatements to members and the federal government, according to information published exclusively by The Last Ward.
CTU members saw something new when opening up their member portal on Friday.
The website now hosts 11 audits members have never seen before. And the content of those audits suggest several reasons why leadership may have kept them hidden for so long.