The 1,300 faculty and professional staff and the 60,000 students of the City Colleges of Chicago were back in class on Nov. 8 after the union and administration met face-to-face for the first time in months of negotiations, settling their differences in nine hours. Both sides credited the intercession of the Rev. James Meeks, an Illinois state senator, in bringing them to the table. Rev. Meeks intervened at the request of students, who have been organized and vocal in supporting their teachers.

The new contract was ratified at a Nov. 7meeting where 95 percent of union members present approved the agreement. The four-year contract provides 4 percent salary increases each year and keeps family health insurance cost increases to $750 a year.  While the administration wanted to increase the workload for full-time faculty from 12 to 15 classroom hours per semester, that discussion is off the table until the next contract negotiations.

Talks came to a bitter impasse this fall after 14 months of negotiations.  The parties sought federal mediation, which began in September but produced little movement. On Nov. 4, faculty and professional staff and students tried to gain admittance to an open meeting of the City Colleges Board of Trustees.  Most were barred from the meeting and a student was arrested. Addressing the board, CCCTU president Perry Buckley complained that, to date, the union had been forced to negotiate only with outside lawyers who do not have authority to make final decisions. He made a direct offer to the board to "split the difference" between board and union proposals.

That offer, along with the pressure applied by students, apparently made headway with the board. After the contract was ratified, Buckley thanked Rev. Meeks and the Rev. Albert Tyson, a City Colleges board member, for their assistance in bringing board chairman James Tyree and City Colleges chancellor Wayne Watson to the table.

The settlement covers four separate agreements for the 550 full-time faculty, 200 full-time and 150 part-time nonteaching professionals and 500 campus police officers. [Barbara McKenna, Bob Blackwood, Chicago Tribune]

November 8, 2004