After more than a year of bargaining, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools. The TA brings significant wins and meaningful improvements for educators, students, and their school communities, including a 16% minimum pay raise, smaller class sizes, hundreds of new positions (such as librarians and teaching assistants), protections for immigrant students and LGBTQIA+ youth and educators, and more planning time for elementary teachers. Throughout bargaining, Chicago’s school district claimed they couldn’t afford CTU’s demands. But educators pushed back, exposing over $1 billion in district reserves.

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates Davis Gates called out the importance of a strong contract during a politically turbulent era.

“This contract provides us with the capacity to move our school district forward in a time of Trump,” Davis Gates said. “We’ve resisted the impacts of privatization and created spaces, through striking, through negotiating, through the coalition space, to create power — power that enables us to do a lot of things.”

CTU’s victory is a clear reminder that when we organize together, our collective power can push back against deep threats to students, educators, and our communities. Organizing is how we resist political agendas to dismantle our public schools and public services. And we can Win Our Future in Los Angeles, just like our union siblings in Chicago.