Chicago, IL – In the early hours of Monday morning, October 19, Cook County College Teachers Union Local 1600 (CCCTU) announced a tentative agreement on a contract for staff and faculty at City Colleges of Chicago, after months of bargaining. After negotiations finally concluded around 4 a.m., CCCTU President Tony Johnston declared, “I am proud of our negotiating teams, of our members who were prepared to strike, and of this contract.”

Workers were scheduled to go on strike starting Monday, and it was this threat that made the administration stop dragging out negotiations. CCCTU leadership will now bring the proposal to their membership to vote to ratify, and then it will have to be approved by the City Colleges Board of Trustees. The union has kept a strike on the table through the whole bargaining process, and they aren’t backing down from that until the contract is ratified.

Rank-and-file CCCTU member Chanel Crittenden said that City Colleges administration started the bargaining process from an insincere position. City Colleges’ negotiation team included corporate-backed union-busting lawyers and offered a miniscule annual wage increase that fell well below inflation. Crittenden highlighted the hostile attitude of the administration, saying, “CCCTU dominated the last contract negotiations, and it seemed like City Colleges of Chicago wanted to revoke some of those wins.”

CCCTU, on the other hand, was looking out for its members and students in their newest contract. The union demanded a dignified wage increase that would actually keep up with inflation. They also called for more oversight on the use of AI in the classroom. Crittenden explained that employees at the City Colleges saw that administration was making moves to replace the highly personal language skills of bilingual workers with deeply flawed AI translation programs.

The union also fought to reduce the financial burden for their overwhelmingly working-class and low-income Black and brown students. The agreement included a task force to explore making introductory developmental courses free for the majority Black and brown and working-class student body. CCCTU argued that their students shouldn’t have to use up their hard-earned financial aid before they can even start taking courses in their degree program.

CCCTU boldly threatened to strike from the very start of negotiations to show the administration they were serious about meeting the needs of their members and students. Members voted 91% in favor of authorizing a strike in September, and Crittenden stated, “leading up to the strike vote, members were setting up information tables on campus and holding practice pickets.”

Solidarity was the name of the game in the last few weeks of the bargaining process.

Crittenden stated, “I was feeling energized while preparing for the strike. It's been a roller coaster; it's been a lot of energy but also anxiety. You want to make sure you can be there for your family, your friends, and your community. I was really grateful to everybody who showed up and showed a strong sense of solidarity.”

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Chicago, IL- In a press conference held May 13, City College faculty and students joined forces with community activists to protest attacks coming down on the colleges from the Board of Trustees and Chancellor Cheryl Hyman. Professor Jessi Choe of Wright College announced plans to protest at the inauguration of incoming mayor Rahm Emanuel, Monday, May 16 at 9:30 a.m. Marching from Roosevelt University to Millennium Park, they will demand the trustees hold public hearings so students, workers and the community have their voices heard.

Viviana Moreno of Students for a Democratic Society at Wright College criticized the “Reinvention” process underway throughout the seven-school system. “So far the only changes we have seen are cuts of staff who serve students,” said Moreno. Jokarhi Miller, student at Malcolm X College and District student council parliamentarian, said over 225 essential employees are being taken away.

Professor Choe called attention to the fact that the city colleges serve working class, minority nationality and immigrant students. Community activist Nubian Malik in turn exposed that the other changes in the “Reinvention” program were 54 new top administrators with a total salary of $5.1 million.

Reverend Paul Jakes of New Tabernacle of Faith Baptist Church criticized the Board for forcing six of the seven presidents of the colleges to reapply for their jobs. When they were chosen the process was more open and a number of presidents receive positive marks by their students and faculty. Choe exposed that the Board hired a consultant for over $300,000 to perform the search for the new chancellor, Hyman, who has no background in education.

The activists are also demanding that Martin Cabrera, the Board of Trustees chairman, call a public hearing on May 26, in the evening, and advertise it two weeks in advance, in, for example, community newspapers. Miller explained, “They call it Chicago Community College for a reason: it’s supposed to serve the community.” He called for public meetings that can hear from the people, and not, “… an illusion of inclusion.”

While the coalition stated their hope the new mayor would have a fresh start and mark an end of the Daley administration history of patronage and privatization, the actions by what will now be Emmanuel’s City College Board caused Jokarhi Miller to call for “an end to mayoral control.”

#ChicagoIL #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #BudgetCuts #ChicagoCityColleges #MalcolmXCollege #RooseveltUniversity #RahmEmanuel