Mayor Richard Daley's schools team and leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union announced Tuesday that they have reached a tentative contract agreement that provides teachers with five years of 4 percent salary increases, a deal that could cost taxpayers about $1 billion.þþEven though most Illinois school districts are struggling with deficits, Chicago Public Schools officials said they have enough money in this year's $4.8 billion budget to pay for the first year of salary hikes for the system's 26,000 teachers and 7,000 support workers. The raises would be retroactive to July 1, when the contract expired.þþMoney to pay for the next four years of increases, through the 2007-08 school year, would have to be found from increased savings or increased funding from the state, federal government or local taxes, school officials acknowledged. As part of the agreement, CTU and city schools leaders have agreed to jointly lobby state and national lawmakers for increases in school funding.þþThe proposed raises, higher than the 3 and 2 percent increases in the last contract, would come at some price for teachers. They would have to pay slightly more for health care beginning in July 2004. They also would have to work a longer school day but a shorter school year starting next fall.þþThe agreement, the first negotiated under CTU President Deborah Lynch and schools chief Arne Duncan, faces a vote from the 935 CTU delegates representing individual schools on Oct. 1. If union delegates approve, all members will vote on the plan in the local schools on Oct. 16. The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the contract Oct. 22.þþÿOur members will have the final word,ÿ said Lynch. ÿBut we are recommending approval. We haven't seen salary increases this high and for this length of time in years.ÿþþDuncan said labor peace and stability is worth the $1 billion schools budget employees estimate the contract will cost. The figure is based on Chicago providing similar salary increases to all of its 47,319 employees, not just the teachers and support workers, school officials said.þþThe school system could not provide an exact figure Tuesday for the cost for teachers and education support workers, though officials estimated about 80 percent of the $1 billion estimate could be attributed to the CTU members.þþ5 more years without strikeþþÿThis means five more years of school opening on time, five more years of progress in the classroom,ÿ said Duncan referring to the length of the contract, the longest ever negotiated for schools employees.þþChicago, which had its last teachers strike in 1987, has not had a walkout to delay the opening of school since Daley took over control of the schools in 1995. Maintaining labor peace and parental confidence in the public schools has been a priority for the mayor.þþÿI'd love to pay teachers more. They are underpaid, ÿ Duncan said.þþCurrently, the pay range is from $34,538 a year for a new teacher with a bachelor's degree up to $61,451 for a veteran teacher with a doctorate. In addition to the across-the-board salary increases, teachers get annual increases as they gain more experience and education.þþOne reason Chicago can afford to increase teacher salaries while many districts are in deficit is because the system got about a $70 million increase in state revenue under the leadership of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the state legislature. The teachers union was a strong supporter of the governor in the election.þþLaurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation of Chicago, said the raises are higher than the 2 to 3 percent that private industry has been averaging.þþÿIt is generous in these economic times. But since they are talking about giving it to teachers and people who actually work with children in the schools, it is more justified,ÿ said Msall. The Civic Federation has called for the school system to cut its administrative and central office staff in these tight budget times.þþSecuring a generous contract is important politically for Lynch, who repeatedly promised her members more than the 3 and 2 percent increases they had settled for under her predecessor, Thomas Reece. Lynch defeated Reece in May 2001 and faces another union election this spring.þþSome union delegates interviewed Tuesday who had only seen a summary of the settlement said they questioned if the percentage increases really were that much better than those in the old contract. They worried that the increase in health-care costs would eat up a good chunk of their raises.þþLynch countered that the average health care increase for a $50,000-a-year teacher would be between $150 a year for the basic plan to $400 a year for a plan ÿwith more bells and whistles.ÿ But that teacher would see at least a $2,000 annual increase in salary for each of the next five years, she said.þþExtra teaching timeþþDuncan said one of the key benefits in the settlement for Chicago schoolchildren is the increase in instructional time of 20 minutes every day. He also said for the first time in history, Chicago will be able to hire part-time teachers for the classroom because a bank of teachers will be allowed to job share. That will get more experienced retirees and other quality educators back in the classroom, he said.þþLynch said part of the increase in instructional time is offset by the shorter school year for teachers, who will be in the classroom seven days less in June starting in the 2003-04 school year. She said the seven days equals about 15 minutes of instruction a day, so teachers will only be working an average of about five minutes more a day--or 25 minutes more a week.þþÿIt's close to a wash, though there is a slight increase in time,ÿ Lynch said.þþSome union delegates contacted by the Tribune expressed reservations about working a longer day, signaling that Lynch and her team still have a sales job ahead of them in the next week.þþLynch has a reputation as a union leader who cares as much about improving achievement as she does about salaries, and the contract reflects that. Besides the bread-and-butter issues, the contract also includes a $1 million commitment to reduce class size in a pilot group of overcrowded or underachieving schools. How the money will be spent will be determined by a joint committee of labor and management.þþJoint labor-management committees also will address truancy, teacher evaluations, employee discipline and career ladders.þþAs a result of a state law that passed last spring that restored some teacher bargaining rights, the contract also marked the first time since the mayor took over the schools that teachers were able to negotiate on issues such as class size and summer school, Lynch said.þþUnion and management, which had been negotiating since May, were able to come to some general agreement last Thursday after three long days with an outside mediator. They used the last few days to iron out language, they said.þ
Source: Chicago Tribune
