Chicago Teachers Union Contract Deal in Sight
After negotiations stretched late into Wednesday night, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools are working to finalize a few remaining details Thursday, with the expectation that a contract agreement is imminent, sources close to the negotiations said.
Background on the Negotiations
A settlement has been within reach for a couple of weeks, and the late-night session helped push the two sides nearly to the finish line. A deal this week would bring to an end to almost a year of tense negotiations in which the union went to battle with the schools’ CEO, despite having a friendly mayor in office.
The Path to a Deal
If talks are buttoned up Thursday, CTU leaders would then take the terms to their “big bargaining team” — a group of a couple dozen educators who have helped negotiate the contract — for consideration, a source close to the union told the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ. That team then typically decides whether to recommend the package to the union’s House of Delegates. A final ratification vote by the CTU’s 30,000 members would seal the deal.
Union and District Statements
CTU’s leadership did not comment. They insisted on sharing details with their membership before talking publicly. Earlier Thursday, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez reportedly indicated in an email to top district staff that a deal had in fact been reached. The district’s chief labor officer, Miguel Perretta, later clarified that “the parties continue to work through the … remaining priorities.”
Details of the Negotiations
These negotiations were the first in more than a decade in which the CTU had the legal authority to bargain over issues outside the classic bread-and-butter topics of salary and benefits. The union has found a way to bargain over issues like class size in past contracts, but they had to take a roundabout approach.
Key Points of the Potential Agreement
The full details of a potential agreement haven’t been released. But the union has already won some firm class-size limits — though not as small as some members would like, because lowering class sizes is expensive — and secured a promise to hire more librarians after years of complaints that too many schools were going without. The union ultimately decided to accept the salary offer, put forward in the summer, of 4% cost-of-living increases in each of the four years of the contract.
Staffing and Pay Increases
The CTU also pushed to add upward of 7,000 more staff members but became satisfied weeks ago, when it won a couple thousand — especially with CPS facing budget deficits in the years ahead. Perhaps the union’s most notable staffing win was a promise to hire 30 librarians in each of the next three years in a district that currently has fewer than 100 for more than 600 schools. The CTU also pushed in the waning weeks of negotiations for additional pay increases for veteran teachers and was able to get CPS to agree to a substantial boost for those teachers.
Ideological Obstacles
But in the end, the biggest obstacles to a deal in these negotiations that have gone on for nearly a year have been more ideological than about money. For months, the union has struggled to find common ground with CPS officials over giving elementary school teachers more planning time, as well as giving above-average teachers three years between performance evaluations — two issues that are not primarily economic but which teachers care deeply about.
Conclusion
If there’s a deal in the next few days, this would be the first time the CTU has landed a contract without a strike vote under the union’s current leadership, which has been in power since 2010. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates had said she thought this round of negotiations would be more straightforward after the union helped get one of its organizers, Brandon Johnson, elected as mayor in 2023. The successful negotiation of a contract deal will mark a significant milestone in the relationship between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools.
FAQs
- Q: What is the current status of the Chicago Teachers Union contract negotiations?
A: The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools are working to finalize a few remaining details, with the expectation that a contract agreement is imminent. - Q: What are some of the key points of the potential agreement?
A: The union has won firm class-size limits, secured a promise to hire more librarians, and accepted a salary offer of 4% cost-of-living increases in each of the four years of the contract. - Q: What were some of the obstacles to reaching a deal?
A: The biggest obstacles were ideological, including differences over giving elementary school teachers more planning time and giving above-average teachers three years between performance evaluations. - Q: How does this negotiation compare to past negotiations?
A: This is the first time the CTU has had the legal authority to bargain over issues outside salary and benefits, and it would be the first contract deal without a strike vote under the current union leadership.
