{"id":43801,"date":"2016-10-11T14:27:23","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T19:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=43801"},"modified":"2016-10-11T14:27:23","modified_gmt":"2016-10-11T19:27:23","slug":"down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Olsen and Meredith Francis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minutes before the midnight deadline, the Chicago Teachers Union and school board reached a tentative agreement<\/a> to avoid a strike that would have sent some 20,000 teachers to picket lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d CTU President Karen Lewis told reporters at 11:55 p.m. Monday. \u201cClearly, there are some issues, and there are some things we\u2019re going to still be working on. But what we ended up with is something that\u2019s good for kids, it\u2019s good for clinicians, for paraprofessionals, for teachers, for the community, and we\u2019re very pleased that we were able to come to this tentative agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

If ratified by the union, the four-year agreement would already be in year two because teachers have been working without a contract since summer 2015. But the last-minute agreement avoided what would have the second strike <\/a>during Mayor Rahm Emanuel\u2019s tenure, not including the one-day teacher walkout April 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe teachers\u2019 hard work will be respected in this contract, and appropriately rewarded,\u201d Emanuel said. \u201cChicago Public Schools\u2019 finances will be stronger and on firmer ground because of this agreement. Parents and taxpayers will be relieved, and more importantly, reassured that we all came together and worked together with a common purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contract maintains \u201cstep-and-lane\u201d salary increases, which provides teachers with raises based on experience and education level. It also protects \u201cpension pick-ups\u201d for current teachers, a major source of contention between the union and Board of Education. Teachers are required to put 9 percent of their salaries into their pension fund, but the city has contributed 7 percent under the pick-up system established in the 1980s. The city wanted to end this benefit as a cost-saving measure, but teachers considered it a pay cut. Under the tentative contract agreement, pension pick-ups would continue, \u00a0except for teachers hired after January 2017.<\/p>\n

The agreement also puts provisions in place to limit class sizes in kindergarten through second-grade classrooms. Beginning this school year, a teaching assistant would be assigned to classrooms that have more than 32 students.<\/p>\n

Lewis emphasized the tentative agreement is not yet a contract: It \u00a0must make it through the House of Delegates, then members will vote on the agreement. But CTU struck an optimistic tone at Monday night\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a perfect agreement, as anyone will tell you, but it was good,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cIt\u2019s 22 months of uncertainty that I think is a relief for the entire city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parents also have reason to celebrate the tentative agreement, too, said Erica Clark of Parents 4 Teachers<\/a>. She argues it\u2019s ultimately up to the teachers to decide if this is a workable contract, but there are some positive signs for parents, like the restrictions in classroom size.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s glad that a strike was avoided; I don\u2019t think teachers wanted it, I don\u2019t think parents wanted it,\u201d said Clark, who insists big problems still face the district, like the lack of an elected school board.<\/p>\n

Right now, Chicago is the only city in the state<\/a> where the mayor appoints the members of the school board, and it\u2019s a rarity nationwide, too. Clark hopes\u00a0the Illinois Senate will pass a bill<\/a> that would force an elected school board in Chicago. It passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone acknowledges there\u2019s still big fights ahead, a collective bargaining agreement can\u2019t solve everything that\u2019s wrong with the school district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Steven Ashby, a member of the Chicago Teachers Solidarity Campaign <\/a>and a labor historian, said there are some gains for teachers in the tentative agreement. But because contract negotiations are limited to issues of compensation and employment conditions, <\/a>many issues aren\u2019t even up for discussion like, for example, having a librarian, nurse and social worker in every school.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor law in this country is very, very backward,\u201d Ashby said. \u201cI think this whole conflict is not over. The schools continue to deteriorate. They continue to be under-resourced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Board of Education\u00a0narrowly avoided a strike Monday night, closing a tentative deal just minutes before the midnight deadline. (Meredith Francis\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emily Olsen and Meredith Francis Minutes before the midnight deadline, the Chicago Teachers Union and school board reached a tentative agreement to avoid a strike that would have sent some 20,000 teachers to picket lines. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d CTU President Karen Lewis told reporters at 11:55 p.m. Monday. \u201cClearly, there are some issues, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":43808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2941,675],"tags":[270,2984,1184,3042,118,2983,147,2987,3041],"class_list":["post-43801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2016","category-social-justice","tag-chicago-public-schools","tag-chicago-teachers-solidarity-campaign","tag-chicago-teachers-union","tag-erica-clark","tag-karen-lewis","tag-parents-4-teachers","tag-rahm-emanuel","tag-steven-ashby","tag-teachers-strike"],"yoast_head":"\nDown to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Emily Olsen and Meredith Francis Minutes before the midnight deadline, the Chicago Teachers Union and school board reached a tentative agreement to avoid a strike that would have sent some 20,000 teachers to picket lines. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d CTU President Karen Lewis told reporters at 11:55 p.m. Monday. \u201cClearly, there are some issues, and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-11T19:27:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"meredithfrancis2017\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"meredithfrancis2017\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/\",\"name\":\"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-11T19:27:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/455d914520c8ed9f372afe436856b21c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":702},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/455d914520c8ed9f372afe436856b21c\",\"name\":\"meredithfrancis2017\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78576ff3cb54bc140fd3443932b47156d836a4869fa6ab9e5c04e527a490f2d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78576ff3cb54bc140fd3443932b47156d836a4869fa6ab9e5c04e527a490f2d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"meredithfrancis2017\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/meredithfrancis2017\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Emily Olsen and Meredith Francis Minutes before the midnight deadline, the Chicago Teachers Union and school board reached a tentative agreement to avoid a strike that would have sent some 20,000 teachers to picket lines. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d CTU President Karen Lewis told reporters at 11:55 p.m. Monday. \u201cClearly, there are some issues, and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2016-10-11T19:27:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":702,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"meredithfrancis2017","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"meredithfrancis2017","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/","name":"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg","datePublished":"2016-10-11T19:27:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/455d914520c8ed9f372afe436856b21c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/CPSheadquarters.jpg","width":1100,"height":702},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/down-to-the-wire-chicago-teachers-strike-narrowly-avoided-with-tentative-agreement\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Down to the wire: Chicago teachers strike narrowly avoided with tentative agreement"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/455d914520c8ed9f372afe436856b21c","name":"meredithfrancis2017","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78576ff3cb54bc140fd3443932b47156d836a4869fa6ab9e5c04e527a490f2d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f78576ff3cb54bc140fd3443932b47156d836a4869fa6ab9e5c04e527a490f2d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"meredithfrancis2017"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/meredithfrancis2017\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}