Two leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union filed a motion to quash third-party discovery subpoenas served on them by Chicago Public Schools chief Pedro Martinez earlier this month.
The subpoenas seek documents related to labor negotiations and depositions from Stacy Davis Gates, CTU’s president and Jackson Potter, the union’s vice president.
The subpoenas are part of an ongoing lawsuit between Martinez and the Board of Education over arguments that board members obstructed the chief executive officer’s job duties.
The legal dispute and the top CTU officials’ desire not to turn over information comes at a time of intense financial uncertainty for the fourth-largest school district in the nation — now facing several unsettled, high-stakes budget costs that led to the conflict between Martinez, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the teachers union that played a pivotal role in electing him.
The school board fired Martinez on Dec. 20 without cause, and just a few days later, several of those same board members attended ongoing teachers contract negotiations. Typically, board members don’t sit in on bargaining sessions, as the district chief negotiates collective bargaining agreements on their behalf.
On Dec. 24, Martinez was granted a temporary restraining order barring the board from “obstructing” the “performance of his job duties.” It also barred board members from attending contract negotiations without Martinez’s permission. Board members have since moved to dismiss the temporary restraining order granted by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joel Chupack.
The subpoenas requested the two union leaders produce documents by Feb. 20 that include any communication — emails, texts messages, Signal messages, WhatsApp messages or any other electronic messages — sent to or received from board members and Gates and Potter.
They also call for documentation and all communication between Gates and Potter and board members relating to Martinez’s firing and contract negotiations between CTU and the board, as well as with with Johnson’s office.
They request Gates and Potter to sit for depositions on April 14 and 15 before the court rules on the board’s pending motion to dismiss.
CTU has been negotiating a new contract since April.
The motion to quash the subpoenas asserts they will “polarize and prolong that labor dispute.”
The motion, submitted by George A. Luscombe III, the attorney representing Gates and Potter, says the ongoing lawsuit is a “personal employment-contract dispute between Martinez and his employer, the Chicago Board of Education.” Therefore, the motion states that third-party subpoenas are “a waste of time, expense and burden.”
“Dragging the leaders of the CTU into this internal dispute between the Board and Martinez in no way assists with the resolution of Martinez’s litigation and would only improperly interfere with the ongoing labor negotiations,” the motion states. Johnson requested Martinez step back from his role as CPS CEO after refusing to take out a $300 million loan to cover the costs of the teachers contract and a pension payment for nonteacher school staff. The previous school board resigned over the conflict.
The board that fired Martinez has since expanded to 21 elected and appointed members and is still confronting the same questions on settling the district’s financial challenges.
Davis Gates and Potters’ counsel will appear before Judge Chupack on March 18 at 10:15 a.m. to present the motion.
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