Chicago (AP) – For the first time in over a decade, the public school teachers in Chicago have a recent contract without strike or a risk of a strike. The four -year agreement includes salary increases, the hiring of more teachers and size limits in the classes.
While the negotiations between the Chicago Teachers Union and the district did not escalate this time, there were unprecedented turbulence in connection with the unusual years of discussions. The drama included the discharge of the headmaster, the entire board, which has resigned, and historical elections that tested the power of the union.
Now Chicago is based on the training of Trump administration and the impending questions of how the fourth largest school district of the country pays the contract.
The turbulence
While all parties are now celebrating the agreement, there has been no lack of turbulence.
Perhaps the main reason why negotiations were not confused as a strike, as it was in 2019 and 2012, the mayor of Union, Brandon Johnson. As a former teacher and CTU organizer, the Union, helped him choose him in 2023.
He spent months to suppress the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Pedro Martinez, a representative of the former mayor Lori Lightfoot in a public spit.
“All of this chaos and turbulence there have clearly pulled the negotiations down and probably closed it for a lot of time,” said Robert Bruno, professor of work and work relationships at the University of Illinois.
Johnson wanted a loan of 300 million US dollars to cover the recent contract and a pension payment that Martinez and the board had irresponsibly rejected as tax. District officials and good government groups argue that borrowing would lead to high interest rates, but Johnson has pushed back and the sentences are “relatively” low. The board resigned in protest in October.
The city organized its first school elections next month. The transitional authority-one mixture of union-supported candidates, supporters and independent survey by the mayors representatives until he was fully elected in 2027.
In December the board moved to Martinez, although it will stay until June. At some point, Martinez accused recent members, made privately with the union and won a judge’s injunction.
The conversations
The union started with more than 700 inquiries contract discussions last year, a record for the almost 30,000 members’ union.
Union leaders say that their goal is always equality in the separate city. About 70% of the 325,000 students in the district are tender and more than 80% black or Latin American.
However, district officials said that these high inquiries had cost over 10 billion US dollars. The annual budget of the district is around 10 billion US dollars.
The price of the recent agreement is about 1.5 billion US dollars.
“We have remained true to our values,” said Martinez after the deal was announced. “We succeeded in keeping the best interest of our students in the center.”
Both sides have advertised transparency. For the first time, some negotiating sessions were publicly livestream.
It was also the first time in almost three decades that the union was allowed to negotiate problems such as class size. In 1995, Illinois legislator’s legislature passed a law that constrained the tariff rights to limit the largest to payment and services. Democratic leaders changed this in 2021.
CTU President Stacy Davis Gates celebrated the contract as a victory that protects students, especially those who are vulnerable under Donald Trump’s presidency.
“It’s big, it is complex and it is certainly a step in the right direction,” she said.
Johnson also got a round of victory and trumpet his Union.
“When I ran for an office, they said it would be liability,” he recently told reporters. “But it sounds like that no other mayor Chicago Public Schools, the Board of Education, the mayor’s office and the CTU can bring together to the table to ensure that our children get exactly what they earn what a fully financed, rounded training is.”
The deal
As part of the deal, teachers receive 4% retrospective increases if the contract has expired last year. Then you get 4% or 5% boost every year.
From next year, the middle teacher wage is 98,000 US dollars. According to the district, the average teacher earns around 110,000 US dollars after the end of the contract in 2028.
The district, which employs around 7,000 teachers, will stop 800 and almost 100 additional librarians. The teachers will receive a total of a total of 10 minutes for a total of 70 minutes for a daily preparation time.
In addition, the class sizes are constrained to class level. For example, the kindergarten will have the little ones and are constrained to 25 students.
The union guides announced on Monday that 97% of the members who chose the deal approved. Davis Gates called it “overwhelming historical levels” of the support for a contract based on the work of previous years, including strikes.
The future
Experts say what happened in Chicago, other unions could bring momentum. Los Angeles teacher who is currently negotiating recently noticed CTU in a newsletter.
“We organize ourselves with political agendas to reduce our public schools and public services. And we can win our future in Los Angeles, just like our union siblings in Chicago,” according to the United Teachers Los Angeles newsletter.
Nevertheless, there are sedate financing issues.
The district has an annual deficit of around 500 million US dollars and a pension reimbursement of $ 175 million for the city. The district is also about to enter contract negotiations with the union of the headmaster.
Martinez said that the first year of the contract is covered, but after that there is uncertainty.
Where the two sides agree, it is that the conversations took too long.
When Trump competed, the union’s organizers said that their work gives more gravity, even if both sides in the democratic stronghold are aligned with questions, including immigration rights.
“We had a feeling of urgency, we had a feeling of responsibility,” said Davis Gates. “The district shared responsibility, but not the urgency.”
School officials accused the union of taking time.
“We should have had this contract months ago,” said Martinez.
