Negotiators for the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools are back at work today attempting to hammer out the details of an agreement that could get 350,000 Chicago public schools students back into the classroom on Monday.
The outline of a new teachers contract was in place Friday and if the remaining pieces can be completed in talks that began this morning, union delegates could vote this weekend to cancel the strike. A teachers union rally is also scheduled for noon today at Union Park at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street on the Near West Side.
Both sides said after a half-day negotiating session Friday that a "framework" for agreement had been reached, but they also cautioned that more needed to be done. With details of the contact still to be finalized, the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union met with its House of Delegates on Friday to assure them that significant progress had been made at the bargaining table.
After the meeting, union President Karen Lewis said she was "very comfortable" with the agreement in place, although officials did not disclose the terms of it to delegates, who are expected to vote on the matter Sunday. The time of the vote was not yet known.
"We think it's a framework that will get us to an agreement," Lewis said.
School board President David Vitale said there is more to do "but we've got a framework in place that should get us there Monday morning."
Officials with the union, the district and the city were saying little about where things stood after Friday's session. But according to an administration source, the elements of the agreement so far include:
If a deal is completed and delegates vote to end the strike that began at midnight last Sunday, schools could reopen Monday, but the contract would have to be ratified by the union's 26,000 members, a process that likely would take place the next two weeks.
Friday's agreement ended a week of intense bargaining, raucous picketing in front of dozens of city schools and massive rallies that drew thousands of teachers downtown to voice their opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his agenda for education reform.
The teachers strike, the city's first since 1987, culminated 10 months of often contentious contract negotiations between union leaders and Emanuel's hand-picked school board.
Milwaukee Teachers Education Association President Bob Peterson told Associated Press he expects a few hundred Wisconsin teachers to be in Chicago for the noon rally at Union Park. The event is being billed by the Chicago Teachers Union as a "Wisconsin-style" rally.
Tribune reporter Kristen Mack contributed.
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Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
The outline of a new teachers contract was in place Friday and if the remaining pieces can be completed in talks that began this morning, union delegates could vote this weekend to cancel the strike. A teachers union rally is also scheduled for noon today at Union Park at Ashland Avenue and Lake Street on the Near West Side.
Both sides said after a half-day negotiating session Friday that a "framework" for agreement had been reached, but they also cautioned that more needed to be done. With details of the contact still to be finalized, the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union met with its House of Delegates on Friday to assure them that significant progress had been made at the bargaining table.
After the meeting, union President Karen Lewis said she was "very comfortable" with the agreement in place, although officials did not disclose the terms of it to delegates, who are expected to vote on the matter Sunday. The time of the vote was not yet known.
"We think it's a framework that will get us to an agreement," Lewis said.
School board President David Vitale said there is more to do "but we've got a framework in place that should get us there Monday morning."
Officials with the union, the district and the city were saying little about where things stood after Friday's session. But according to an administration source, the elements of the agreement so far include:
- Teacher evaluations in which student performance makes up 25 percent of a teacher's performance rating in the system's first year and a higher percentage in future years.
- Annual wage increases that are believed to be close to the district's earlier offer of a 3 percent base salary hike in the first year of the contract and 2 percent raises in subsequent years. In their previous contract, teachers were given 4 percent annual base salary bumps.
- Raises for years taught, known as step pay increases, would be limited to midcareer educators from their fifth through 10th years with the district.
If a deal is completed and delegates vote to end the strike that began at midnight last Sunday, schools could reopen Monday, but the contract would have to be ratified by the union's 26,000 members, a process that likely would take place the next two weeks.
Friday's agreement ended a week of intense bargaining, raucous picketing in front of dozens of city schools and massive rallies that drew thousands of teachers downtown to voice their opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his agenda for education reform.
The teachers strike, the city's first since 1987, culminated 10 months of often contentious contract negotiations between union leaders and Emanuel's hand-picked school board.
Milwaukee Teachers Education Association President Bob Peterson told Associated Press he expects a few hundred Wisconsin teachers to be in Chicago for the noon rally at Union Park. The event is being billed by the Chicago Teachers Union as a "Wisconsin-style" rally.
Tribune reporter Kristen Mack contributed.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking