Local
City Colleges union members authorize walkout as contract talks stall
City Colleges of Chicago faculty and professional staff are preparing to strike as early as Monday after 96% of union members who voted backed a work stoppage. Negotiations remain unresolved over pay, health insurance, artificial intelligence and free developmental education, though union members say they are still willing to reach a deal.
Faculty and professional staff at City Colleges of Chicago could walk off the job as soon as Monday, Oct. 19, as contract negotiations between the district and the City Colleges of Chicago Teachers Union remain stalled.
The union urged members to prepare for a strike after 96% of those who voted supported a work stoppage earlier this week. Members gathered Saturday afternoon to demonstrate their readiness to picket. The union’s last strike was four years ago.
Union members say key disagreements include salary increases, health insurance, how artificial intelligence will be handled, and free developmental education. The available details do not specify the district’s position on those issues or the terms it has offered.
Andrea Kluger, a union member, said a strike vote carries serious consequences for workers but reflects their commitment to one another. She urged City Colleges leadership to reach what she called a fair agreement and said members remained willing to negotiate even as they prepared to walk out.
A strike could disrupt classes and services across the city’s public community-college system if no agreement is reached before Monday. Kluger said she hoped negotiations would produce a deal and avoid a walkout, while making clear she would join colleagues on the picket line if necessary.