UNO’s Juan Rangel served as Rahm’s election chairman.
The scandal-ridden United Neighborhood Organization runs the largest chain of charter schools in Ilinois.
Now they run the largest chain of unionized charter schools.
The charter chain’s first contract with the teachers represented by the Illinois Federation of Teachers was ratified by a vote of 445-16.
Previously, only about 300 teachers and employees at 11 of the 126 charter schools in Chicago worked under labor contracts. The Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, or Chicago ACTS, an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, is the bargaining agent for all organized charter schools in the city.
“The UNO effort is a great example of what can happen when teachers and charter management work together for what’s most important—the students’ success,” said IFT President Dan Montgomery in a written statement. “Strong staffs lead to strong schools, and their ability to advocate for high-quality education with a collective voice will greatly benefit the students and our communities.”
UNO staff unionized last spring in the midst of a corruption scandal at the charter schools network.
Former CEO Juan Rangel bowed out of both organizations last year after a series of revelations by the Chicago Sun-Times of nepotism and contract steering. Adding to UNO’s woes is a loss of millions of dollars in state grant money and an ongoing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a 2011 bond deal that helped expand the network.
Fred Klonsky 
Fabulous news!
Now if the CtU pension board receives the payments past due for their teachers…who am I kidding? Juan learned at rahm’s knee
Mind boggling!
UNO demonstrates the need for unions to face off against the corruption of a system to enhance and foster greater learning and achievement for the students. When the management of the system fails it necessitates the workers to band together for the greater good. Dan Montgomery’s comment is right on target and should be carried forward and applied to the current existing situation across the state where teachers join together to insure quality education for their students. Was the problem with UNO a matter of union bosses misusing the system of course not. Rather the problem was that leadership of the UNO organization fell prey to nepotism, cronyism, greed and financial mismanagement. UNO must of tried to run it to much like a business worried more about making money and less about its workers as well as its product, the students. When will people reallize and understand that schools are not about widgets and profits, but students and giving them tools for a future of hope.