After a year of negotiations, Chicago Public Schools and SEIU Local 73, representing around 11,000 district support staffers, have reached a new, tentative four-year agreement, which CPS announced in a press release Wednesday night.
“Our Union members are finally being recognized for their commitment and have secured much-needed raises that will greatly improve the lives of these essential workers and provide the respect they deserve,” Dian Palmer, president of the union representing bus monitors, crossing guards, custodians, security guards and Special Education Classroom Assistants, said in the press release.
The tentative agreement establishes a minimum $40,000 baseline salary for full-time support staff and 4% retroactive pay increases this school year and next, with 4-5% increases, dependent on the Consumer Price Index, in the remaining two years of the contract, CPS said.
In the months since the district’s previous contract with the union expired last June, the executive vice president for the local, Stacia Scott Kennedy, urged Board of Education members to provide pay increases to workers who are often struggling to survive.
With security officers starting at $33,000 a year, special education classroom assistants starting at $37,000 and custodians at $16.80 per hour, Scott Kennedy told the Board in March that members often seek help accessing government assistance, including homeless services.
“If you are a public servant, you should not need government assistance in order to make ends meet…Your employees have to be able to afford to live in the City of Chicago,” she said.
“You cannot balance the school district’s budget on the backs of your lowest paid workers,” Scott Kennedy said, noting one out of every 10 support staff positions at the time were vacant. “Part of why you cannot fill them is because people can’t afford to take the job.”
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in the district’s press release that the agreement reflects CPS’ commitment to a fair and equitable contract. “These critical support staff professionals carry out vital work in our schools each day, supporting teaching and learning and ensuring the safety and well-being of our students,” he said.
After union members ratify the contract, the agreement will go to the Board of Education for final approval.