Education
CTU Delegates Approve Contract Proposal, Setting Stage for Membership Ratification Vote
Video: WTTW News reporter Matt Masterson breaks down the CTU’s contract ahead of Wednesday night’s vote. (Produced by Paul Caine)
The Chicago Teachers Union took the next step toward approving its new labor contract late Wednesday after its largest governing body signed off on the proposal.
The union’s 730-member House of Delegates voted in favor of the four-year contract agreement, meaning the proposed deal will now go to the CTU’s 30,000 members for a final ratification vote.
“We’re proud to have landed a transformative contract that turns away from decades of disinvesting in Black children and turns toward creating the world-class education system for every single student in CPS no matter their zip code," CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said in a statement. "If the contract is ratified by our members, we will be one major leap forward toward the educational experience Chicago’s children and the mainly women workers who serve them in our schools deserve.”
The agreement — which Chicago Public Schools officials say will cost $1.5 billion over the life of the deal — must also be approved by Chicago’s 21-member, partially elected Board of Education, which must also figure out how to pay for the deal.
Wednesday’s vote comes two days after the union announced it had reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools following nearly a year of bargaining.
Under the proposed deal, teachers will see raises of 4% to 7.5% in the first year and 4% to 8.5% each during the remaining three years of the deal, depending on their level of education and tenure, officials said.
Union leaders said the contract includes enforceable class sizes limits and expands services offered to special education, bilingual and unhoused students. The deal will add teacher prep time and increase the number of libraries and librarians districtwide, while also expanding funding for sports programming and access to career and technical education opportunities.
CTU officials and some delegates have already lauded the tentative deal as a “transformative” agreement.
Dave Stieber, a veteran high school teacher and union delegate who also served on CTU’s bargaining team, said this proposal is “far and away the best I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
“Over the course of my 18 years (teaching), I’ve been always basically looking at the things my students don’t have and trying to make the best of it, try to make the best of the situation, tell them they can accomplish all these things while not having all of the support they need,” he told WTTW News this week. “It’s the best contract I’ve ever seen that truly tries to bring things to the students that they have deserved since CPS has existed.”
Negotiations began last April on an optimistic note. The sides agreed to open some bargaining sessions to the public for the first time, and the union had a friend in the mayor’s office following the election of former middle school teacher and CTU organizer Brandon Johnson.
But tensions rose between the sides as month after month passed without a deal.
The union repeatedly pointed the finger, not at Johnson, but at CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, calling him the “main obstacle” to finishing a contract.
Martinez also drew the ire of Johnson. The mayor has repeatedly pressed school district officials to borrow money to cover employee pensions and labor costs, while Martinez has called that proposal “exorbitant” and fiscally irresponsible.
Martinez later refused a request by Johnson to resign his position, but the final act of the CPS Board made up of members appointed by Johnson was to fire Martinez without cause, leaving him in office until June.
Despite those issues, this contract agreement — once finalized — will mark the first time in 15 years that the union’s leadership, the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators, known as CORE, has reached an agreement with CPS officials without first taking a strike vote.
In 2012, CTU went on strike for seven days. In 2016, a late-night agreement averted a second walkout under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In 2019, an 11-day strike followed the breakdown of negotiations with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Heather Cherone contributed to this report.
