Collective Bargaining

The Chicago Public Schools employs 42,307 employees in CPS schools. Labor unions represent the vast majority of CPS employees and bargain with CPS representatives over the employees’ wages, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. Employees’ collective bargaining rights are governed by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (115 ILCS 5/1 et . seq.) and provisions of the Illinois School Code (105 ICLS 5/34-1 et. seq.) The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board is charged with enforcing various provisions of the Act.

The labor unions that represent CPS employees and the employees they represent are found in the table below. Links to current collective bargaining agreements between CPS and the labor unions are found at the bottom of the page. CPS Board policies and rules also affect CPS employees’ terms of employment. They are found in Chapter 4 of the Board Rules and Series 500 of the Board Policies. Personnel procedures and other human resource materials are published on the internal CPS employee website, HR4U.

For more information regarding CPS Collective Bargaining Agreements and units, you may contact Chief Labor Relations Officer Miguel Perretta at mjperretta@cps.edu, or Labor Relations at laborrelationses@cps.edu for elementary related questions and laborrelationshs@cps.edu for high school related questions.

CPS Employees and Their Bargaining Representatives

Labor Union	Employees Represented	Contract Term	CBA Link
Chicago Teachers Union	Teachers, Counselors, Librarians and Related Service Providers Paraprofessional and School-Related Personnel	7/1/2024 to 6/30/28	CTU Contract 2024-2028
SEIU Local 73	Custodians Security Officers Special Education Classroom Assistants Child Welfare Attendants School Bus Aides	7/1/2023 to 6/30/2027	The Service Employees International Union, Local No. 73
UNITE-HERE Local 1	Lunchroom Employees	7/1/2021 to 6/30/2025	Unite Here Local No. 1
SEIU Local 1	Lunchroom Managers	7/1/2025 to 6/30/2029	Service Employees International Union, Local 1
IB of T Local 700	Motor Truck Drivers Foremen of Motor Truck Drivers	7/1/2022 to 6/30/2027	Teamsters Local 700
Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, Local 2's	Principal, Assistant Principal, Acting Principal, Resident Principal, Interim Principal	8/8/25 to 6/30/26 MOU *	CPAA - CPS Interim MOU *

*This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) implements specific tentative agreements reached during ongoing negotiations for the initial CPAA Collective Bargaining Agreement.