Chicago school board approves four-year lunchroom workers contract, raising minimum pay to $21 an hour

The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday approved a four-year contract with the union for Chicago Public Schools lunchroom workers, ending more than a year of negotiations and heading off a possible strike.^{1, 2} The vote was unanimous, Chalkbeat Chicago reported.¹

The contract with Unite Here Local 1 sets a minimum wage of $21 an hour for lunchroom staff.^{1, 2} Chalkbeat put the current minimum at about $17 an hour, and the union told the Chicago Sun-Times that most of its members earned $18.42 an hour or less before the deal.^{1, 2}

The district estimates the contract will cost $64.8 million, according to Chalkbeat.¹ CPS says its current budget, which runs through June 30, 2027, covers this year’s share of that cost, Chalkbeat reported.¹

Chalkbeat reported that the union represents more than 1,800 CPS lunchroom workers, while the Sun-Times, citing the union, put the number at about 1,500.^{1, 2}

What the contract does

The agreement runs from July 2025 through June 2029 and is retroactive to the expiration of the last contract in June 2025, so the district will make back payments, the Sun-Times reported.² Workers will receive a 4% cost-of-living raise next summer and a 2.5% raise in 2028.^{1, 2}

Additional raises are tied to length of service.¹ According to the Sun-Times, workers with 10 years in the district will earn an extra $1 an hour, and those with 20 years an extra $2.² Associate managers can earn up to $27 an hour, CPS told the Sun-Times.²

The contract also changes how managers and cooks are paid.² Their wages had been tied to the number of meals their kitchens served, and the deal replaces that with a steadier pay structure, the Sun-Times reported.²

The union had first sought a minimum wage of $24 an hour, according to Chalkbeat.¹

The workers’ view

Irma Garcia, a cook who has worked in CPS lunchrooms for 24 years, will see her pay go from $22 an hour to $29, Chalkbeat reported.¹ “When I saw that we won this contract, I cried,” Garcia said, according to Chalkbeat.¹

Letia Downing-Lowe, a lunchroom attendant at Eli Whitney Elementary for 11 years who sat on the union’s bargaining team, called the agreement a “breath of fresh air,” the Sun-Times reported.² “Because the wages have gone up, hopefully we can hire new people and the staffing can get back to where it was,” she told the paper.²

CPS CEO Macquline King thanked the workers at the meeting.^{1, 2} She said they “arrive early, prepare and serve nutritious meals, keep our kitchens running,” according to Chalkbeat.¹

How the deal came together

The contract expired in June 2025.² In April, workers protested outside district headquarters, and several were detained by police, the Sun-Times reported.² Both sides agreed to bring in a federal mediator.²

In July, the union asked for fact-finding, one of the last steps under state law before school district workers may strike.^{1, 2} Workers cannot strike until 30 days after a fact-finder’s report is made public, according to the Sun-Times.² The two sides reached a tentative agreement Oct. 1, and union members ratified it Oct. 11, the Sun-Times reported.²

A union survey in 2025 found that nearly half of respondents had trouble affording basic necessities and that 67% sometimes struggled to afford food, according to the Sun-Times.²

The district’s budget

The contract arrives as CPS presses Springfield for more money.¹ The district’s $10 billion budget, passed in July, assumes $150 million in additional state funding, Chalkbeat reported.¹ Gov. JB Pritzker has not signaled support for more money for CPS beyond the $350 million increase approved in May, according to Chalkbeat.¹

The General Assembly’s fall veto session is scheduled to begin Nov. 17.¹ CPS spokesperson Mary Fergus told Chalkbeat the district is “planning to develop advocacy efforts” for the session.¹

The vote came at the board’s last scheduled meeting before Election Day, and the fully elected board that voters choose takes office in January.¹