An upcoming meeting could help smooth new tensions between the union representing City Colleges of Chicago faculty members and the district.

Perry Buckley, the president of the Cook County College Teachers Union, Local 1600, raised concerns at a public meeting earlier this month that the union wasn’t being included in the process of disciplining faculty members.

Buckley says he appreciated getting a call from district board Chairman James Tyree the day after speaking at the meeting. He plans to meet with Tyree in the coming weeks to talk through the issues.

Tyree did not return a call seeking comment yesterday.

The problem, Buckley says: The union is having a hard time finding out why faculty members are being sanctioned and what the complaints are against them.

The latest tensions have echoes of the 2004 teachers strike, which soured relations between both sides for some time afterward. After several years of repairing relationships, Buckley said that, until recently, his union had been on good terms with the district.

A meeting with Tyree would be a good first step for the union, he says.

Since the January board meeting, Buckley said he filed paperwork that would send the firings of two faculty members to arbitration. The move will give the union a chance to get more details on the firings—details the district once shared with the union, Buckley says.

”We’re being forced to go to arbitration where we can depose witnesses and basically see who our accusers are,” Buckley says.

However, district spokeswoman Elsa Tullos says the district hasn’t changed how it deals with faculty discipline issues and downplayed differences between the district and the union.

“I wouldn’t be quoted as saying there’s no problem, but the policies are the same,” Tullos says.

The process for sanctioning instructors is outlined in the union contract, she says.

Buckley declined to give details on the two cases he’s taking to arbitration.

Compounding the union’s concerns, Buckley says some of the presidents of the seven city colleges have told him that when they go to investigate a student complaint, they are told in advance by district officials that the decision to fire a faculty member has already been made.

“Those presidents are being told what the outcome will be before they investigate,” Buckley says.

That makes the results of any subsequent hearings a foregone conclusion, he says.

“It’s an act of futility because no matter what we say or do, the decision has been made,” Buckley says.