City Colleges Strike Averted as Union Wins Tentative 4-Year Deal

A deal reached hours before the picket lines

At about 3:45 a.m. Monday, the Cook County College Teachers Union, Local 1600, and City Colleges of Chicago reached a tentative four-year contract. That was a few hours before nearly 1,500 faculty and professional staff were set to walk off the job at the system's seven colleges.415 The union called off the strike, and a City Colleges spokesperson said classes and student services would run normally Monday.415

The night before, the outcome was still open. On Sunday evening, union leaders said they had no agreement after a weekend of talks that went nowhere. Union president Tony Johnston told members to stay ready and wait for word from the bargaining team.2 He was blunt about how the administration had bargained over the spring and summer. He said City Colleges had mostly rejected the union's proposals or shown no interest in them, and that this was why the two sides ended up negotiating around the clock in the final week.2

After the deal was reached, Johnston praised the bargaining teams and the members who had been ready to strike. He also said a settlement should not have taken until the middle of the night on strike day.416 The agreement is not final yet. Union members have to ratify it, and then the City Colleges Board of Trustees has to approve it.1015

What the tentative contract contains

According to the union's summary, which outlets repeated consistently, the contract includes:

• Annual raises meant to keep pace with inflation, plus higher starting salaries1516
• No change to employees' current health insurance contributions or caps1516
• A joint committee of administrators and union representatives to oversee how artificial intelligence is used in the system1516
• A task force, set up in a side letter, to study making developmental and non-credit courses free for students1516
• Expanded parental leave and a Monday start to the academic year1516

The union announced these terms itself, and the coverage reflects that. The Chicago Crusader, for example, noted that its account was based on the union's announcement.16 Exact percentages for the raises were not published. So for now, readers have to take on trust the union's claim that wages will keep pace with inflation.

How far apart the two sides were

The distance the two sides covered in the final days helps explain the overnight finish. In early October, Johnston told the Chicago Tribune that City Colleges' offer would amount to a pay cut of roughly 2 to 3 percent once inflation was counted. He added that the union had stopped making concessions because it would only be negotiating against itself.5 The World Socialist Web Site, an openly partisan outlet, reported that the administration's September wage offer was 1 percent, 1 percent, 1.25 percent and 1.5 percent over four years. It also said 50 proposals were still unresolved after 32 bargaining sessions.12 No mainstream outlet confirmed those exact figures, but they match Johnston's description of an offer that would have reduced real pay.

Wages were not the only gap. The Tribune reported that the union was trying to keep a "master's incentive," a $750 annual payment to employees who hold master's degrees.5 The WSWS reported that the administration wanted to end that incentive for professional staff and to raise employees' health insurance contributions.12 The final deal keeps contribution levels where they are, which suggests that the health-care proposal was dropped.1516 The union's summaries do not mention the master's incentive, so it is unclear what happened to it.

Some of the union's broader goals were also left out. Earlier in the campaign, the union called for smaller class sizes and free developmental and non-credit courses.59 The deal includes a task force to study free developmental education instead of making those courses free.16 Smaller class sizes do not appear in any summary of the agreement. Taken together, this looks like the common pattern in public-sector bargaining: the union protected members' pay and benefits, while its student-focused demands were sent to a committee for study.

Job cuts and the staffing argument

Staffing levels ran under the whole dispute. At the October 1 board meeting, Johnston claimed that administrative staff had grown 88 percent over the past decade while the number of full-time employees fell. He told supporters the dispute was about priorities, not money. Marchers carried signs reading "Chop from the top." The administration did not respond to that figure in any coverage, and it should be treated as the union's claim, not an established fact.

The district's finances supported the union's argument. The WSWS reported that City Colleges adopted a $684.2 million budget for fiscal 2027, up $36.1 million, and that Chancellor Juan Salgado described the system's finances as solid. The same report noted that restricted grant revenue was expected to decline and that tuition was going up.12 A system that has more money overall, while facing a union that says frontline staffing has shrunk, has a harder time claiming it cannot afford raises above inflation.

The job-security fight also took a new form this year: artificial intelligence. Gerald Muñoz, a City Colleges grant writer and a graduate of the system, told the Tribune that AI tools were already showing up in his field and in classrooms. He said the human relationships at the colleges were what made a difference for students.5 Picket signs reading "Humans not computers" made the same point. The WSWS reported that the administration had turned down union proposals on AI.12 The joint AI committee is a real step forward from that position. Still, a committee gives the union a place to raise concerns. It does not, by itself, stop management from using AI to replace work.

The regional picture shows why workers worry about cuts. Faculty at Prairie State College, south of Chicago, have been working without a contract since August after staff layoffs.12 Chicago Public Schools passed a budget this summer that cut staffing allocations to close a $732 million gap.12

Where the reporting differs

Most outlets agree on the key facts: the 96 percent strike vote, the July 15 contract expiration, talks beginning in February, the 3:45 a.m. settlement, and the two remaining approval steps.41015 Some details differ. The Tribune put the strike vote at 1,388 eligible members with 91 percent turnout.5 The WSWS reported 1,324 ballots cast out of 1,446 eligible members.12 The two figures can be reconciled if the Tribune was counting "yes" votes. The union also told the Tribune that a strike would have involved 565 faculty members and 891 professional staff.5 NBC Chicago corrected an earlier story that wrongly said the union had gone on strike four years ago. The union held a strike vote then but did not walk out.

The sharpest difference is in interpretation. Mainstream outlets present the result as a hard-won agreement that kept classes running.416 The WSWS argued before the deal that the union's leaders were trying to avoid or limit a strike. It noted that the union's strike manual told adjunct faculty and other bargaining units to cross picket lines because of no-strike clauses. It also pointed out that adjuncts make up a majority of the teaching staff.12 That critique comes from a political viewpoint, but it raises a real question about how much leverage a full-time-only strike would have had.

What it means

This is the third time a strike authorization at City Colleges has ended in a last-minute settlement. The Tribune noted that the union came close to walking out in fall 2022 before reaching a deal in late October of that year.5 This pattern could end up hurting the union. If the administration expects every deadline to produce a deal, it has little reason to bargain seriously before the final week. Johnston's complaint about the 3:45 a.m. finish points to exactly that problem.

Students had the most to lose. At the October 1 board meeting, the student trustee warned that many students did not know a strike was possible, and that some might not return if classes were disrupted. City Colleges serves more than 73,000 students a year.15 They avoided a disruption this time. On balance, workers did well: they kept their health-care costs where they were, the administration's offer moved from what the union called a real pay cut to raises tied to inflation, and they gained a formal role in decisions about AI. What remains unresolved is the staffing question behind the "Chop from the top" signs, and the next contract fight is likely to center on it.