City Colleges of Chicago Teachers Union Reaches Tentative Agreement on Oct. 24; 96% Strike Vote Helped Win Health Care and Pay Terms
On Oct. 24, Illinois Federation of Teachers President Stacy Davis Gates announced that Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600 had reached a tentative agreement with City Colleges of Chicago on a new contract. Gates said the local's 96% strike vote, its picketing and its presence at every board meeting were the reasons the agreement was reached. The agreement protects teachers from increases in their health care costs and provides raises tied to the cost of living; a side letter to the agreement creates a task force to study making developmental education (non-credit courses) free.
Local President Tony Johnston said the experience of negotiating with Mayor Johnson's team was markedly different, describing the mayor's team as transparent, accessible and genuinely listening to both sides at the table. Gates also said Mayor Johnson showed a posture of treating educators as partners and that his administration's openness at the negotiating table helped produce the agreement. The agreement will next go to the local's members for a ratification vote.
Source: GSM News
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 芝加哥市中心。图片：Michel Curi 摄，经 Wikimedia Commons（CC BY）。Downtown Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Michel Curi, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY).
