Education

Chicago Teachers Union Bargaining Team Meeting Monday to Weigh Possible Contract Agreement

The Chicago Teachers Union’s bargaining team is set to convene Monday to consider a contract proposal from Chicago Public Schools, the latest sign a new labor deal could be imminent.

In a social media post on Friday afternoon, CTU confirmed the union’s big bargaining team — comprised of rank-and-file members — will meet Monday afternoon to weigh the potential deal. If that body approves, the proposal would then be sent to the union’s House of Delegates for a vote.

The deal, however, would still not be finalized, and won’t be until the CTU’s 30,000 rank-and-file members vote to approve the contract.

Union and school district negotiators have been working in recent days to iron out the final sticking points, which include a revised teacher evaluation system, prep time for elementary school teachers and retaining veteran educators.

Negotiations had grown contentious in recent weeks, as the union pushed hard for a new deal it considers a “force field” against intrusions from President Donald Trump’s administration.

But the parties had a breakthrough following what Mayor Brandon Johnson termed a “productive” conversation at City Hall earlier this month between CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and Board President Sean Hardin.

“Our students have waited long enough, my hope is that they will settle on a tentative deal as soon as possible,” Johnson — a former CTU organizer — said in a statement Thursday evening.

The union said Thursday there was “momentum at the table” but that there’s still work to be done.  

Johnson said the sides have made “significant headway” on those remaining issues.

“What we are hearing about this potential deal is encouraging, not just for our hardworking teachers but for all Chicagoans,” the mayor said. “We all benefit when our public schools are thriving. The potential agreement includes smaller class sizes for our students and librarians in dozens of schools across our city.”

CPS has said it has offered teachers what amounts to a 16% raise over the next four years.

Last year, the Board of Education — then a seven-member body handpicked by Johnson — approved the school district’s operating budget for 2025 while acknowledging it would need to be amended once the CTU deal was finalized.

The board has since grown to a 21-member, partially elected, partially appointed board. Last week, a scheduled vote by that board on a proposal to amend the district budget was called off after it was clear it did not have at least 14 votes necessary to pass.

While Johnson has consistently urged the school district to borrow enough money to make a necessary teachers pension payment and cover the new cost of labor contracts with the CTU and a separate deal for the union representing CPS principals, Martinez has refused, calling the mayor’s proposal “exorbitant” and fiscally irresponsible.

The board moved to terminate Martinez without cause in December, though a provision in his contract allows him to remain on the job until June.

Despite the deep breach between the two men, both Johnson and Martinez have ruled out layoffs, cuts or furloughs to CPS operations. CPS cannot raise property taxes high enough or quickly enough to cover the gap, leaving borrowing as the only apparent option.

Heather Cherone contributed to this report.

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