Chicago teachers' union agrees contract proposal to avert strike

[October 11, 2016]  By Renita Young

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago's cash-strapped schools and its teachers' union agreed to a contract proposal late on Monday, union and city officials said, averting a strike set for Tuesday in the third largest U.S. public school system.

The four-year agreement, which the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) will recommend to its 28,000 members, includes provisions on pensions, classroom sizes and layoffs, Chicago Teachers Union president, Karen Lewis, said at a midnight news conference.

"We ended up with something that’s good for kids, it’s good for paraprofessionals, it’s good for teachers, for the community," Lewis said.

Teachers planned to go on strike at midnight on Monday if an agreement had not been reached. They have been working without a contract for more than a year. The contract that ended a strike in 2012 expired on June 30, 2015.

Chicago's school system is independent of the city but controlled by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The district, which has nearly 400,000 students, had a $7 million deficit on June 30, according to a school financial report.

"Chicago Public Schools finances will be stronger, and on firmer ground, because of this agreement," Emanuel said at a news conference early on Tuesday morning.

The threat of a strike piled extra pressure on the second-term mayor, who is struggling to stop a surge in violence in the city as well as trying to stem Chicago's financial woes.

Chicago schools are grappling with escalating pension payments that will jump to $720.2 million this fiscal year from $676 million in fiscal 2016, as well as credit ratings that have fallen to "junk", drained reserves, and debt dependency.

Chicago Teachers Union members picket outside of the Chicago Public School headquarters on the fourth day of their strike in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. September 13, 2012. REUTERS/John Gress/File Photo

Teachers contribute 2 percent to their pension, with the school board chipping in an additional 7 percent. Under Monday's deal, new hires will not get the 7-percent "pension pickup," but will get a salary adjustment to compensate for that, Lewis said.

Teachers demanded a $200 million a year increase in classroom spending, she said, and wanted the mayor to allocate most of the surplus revenues generated by nearly 150 special taxing areas, called tax-increment financing (TIF) districts.

Emanuel already gives just over half of TIF revenues to the school system and has resisted calls for more. He is expected to give further details on school funding in his 2017 budget address on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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