Full Time CCC faculty are voting for the possibility of a strike
All full-time faculty and professionals at every CCC campus are currently holding a strike authorization vote due to static contract negotiations.
Cook County College Teachers Union (CCCTU) is the union for all of CCC’s full-time professors and professionals.
Wright College’s Co-Chair in CCCTU, Bill Marsh said that full-time professors and professionals at Wright have been negotiating their contracts since February 2026 and the current contract has expired June 2026.
In the center of negotiations is pay increase and inflation, “we're all facing inflation, rising costs, rising gas. It's expensive to live in the city of Chicago and faculty were obligated to live in the city of Chicago according to a board regulation, so it's getting more and more difficult to meet the expenses.” Said Marsh.
Wright’s negotiation team offered a one percent annual increase, “you might be seeing some posters around that say one percent is a joke” said Marsh.
Negotiations have been at a standstill and for the past month, the negotiation teams have hired an outside mediator to help the negotiations according to Wright’s CCCTU Co-Chair, Susan Grace.
“You have to have good faith bargaining happening” said grace, “and if it's not happening, then that's when you call a mediator.”
Marsh brought up, “if you want to have a professor who has the time and the mental space to create a good lesson plan, you want a professor who's being paid adequately and you know has decent health insurance so that we don't have to think about that.” CCCTU has two negotiation teams, one for professors and one for professionals.
“Both teams have had very, very thoughtful proposals to make the working conditions better, for students more affordable, and they’ve denied it all” Said Grace
CCC has hired a, “union-busting law firm, Jackson Lewis” said Grace. Alongside the team of lawyers on CCC’s payroll.
CCCTU has one lawyer representing all 7 colleges.
Jackson Lewis was also hired in December of 2022 when a strike authorization vote was passed.
If a strike authorization vote is passed it does not necessarily mean a strike will happen. If the vote is passed leadership in CCCTU like President Tony Johnston, can cancel their current contract and call a strike according to Grace.
The cancelled contract would be the expired contract that all Full-time professors and professionals had to fall back on during negotiations.
Compared to the 1% raise CCC has offered, “inflation is hovering around 4%” said Grace. “We find that kind of insulting,” said Marsh. “We need to find a happy medium but that is so low we don't understand why they think we even take it seriously” Marsh added.
Grace brought up that CCC claims that they don't have the money for raises, “we know it's not about being broke, it's about what they chose to spend their money on, and what they choose to spend their money on is a huge bureaucracy”
According to Grace, the number of administrators has doubled since 2010 and the Chancellor's budget increased 68% in the last two years, "they're administrators who administrate to our administrators who administrate to us, they do not have any contact with students” said Grace.
“They have the money, we don't buy that they’re broke, we never bought the story that they were broke when they cut our release time” Grace said, “They just choose to spend it on a huge bureaucracy”
In the last two contracts a similar pattern of events happened. “This was kind of their pattern, it's what union-busting law firms do, they stall, stall, stall, delay, delay, delay” said Grace. “They hope to demoralize the membership”
In the last two contract negotiations, CCCTU had to take a strike vote, “before anything happened at the table, and both contracts were resolved,” said Grace.
CCCTU hasn't gone on strike since 2004, when full-time professors and professionals were facing the lowest raise in 40 years.
If a strike were to happen, “it's basically a work stoppage for anyone who's currently negotiating the contract, which would be full-time faculty and professionals,” said Marsh.
“Advisors tutors we wouldn't be working,” Grace said. “People that make this building run wouldn't be here, we would be outside on the streets picketing, early in the morning till late at night”
A student who was taking a class by a full-time faculty member, wouldn't have a class to go to if there was a strike, according to Grace.
Grace has a message for students, “stay focused, stay the course, we'll get through this, we always get through this.”
Provost Mark Potter denied an interview with the Wright Times, stating in an email, “City Colleges doesn’t provide interviews or comment on ongoing contract negotiations.”
The Wright Times has also reached out to the law firm Jackson Lewis, and have not gotten a reply at the time of publishing.
“We are hopeful mediation moves this district to a serious offer, but hope is not a strategy, and our members are not waiting passively. Just as we did in the last two contract fights, this union is preparing our members to be strike ready.” Said Johnston Sept. 3 Instagram post, “we don't want a strike, our members want to be in their classrooms and helping students. Not on picket lines, but we will not accept a contract that disrespects their work, and they are organized and ready to do what it takes to win a fair and dignified contract.”
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