It's a Draw!

All sides are claiming victory in the CTU negotiations:

• Mayor Brandon Johnson has a long way to go to realize his dream of becoming Chicago’s longest-serving mayor. But he proudly proclaimed Tuesday that there are “a couple of things that Richard M. Daley and I do have some alignment around: running successful Democratic National Conventions and avoiding teachers strikes.”

  A former middle school teacher turned paid organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson is claiming victory for having delivered a new tentative contract agreement for his former union brethren — and for Chicagoans like him who send their children to Chicago public schools.

  As the CTU’s House of Delegates and rank-and-file members prepare to vote on the contract, questions remain about who really came out ahead in this hard-fought battle and whether the contract was worth the months of acrimony and the political price that Johnson had to pay.

But we're told by people who know and people who have been pretty close to negotiations that this Contract is - in essence - a repeat of the 2019 agreement. In fact, where the Police Department got 5% raises, the CTU will get 4%.

Stacy Davis Gates comes out the biggest loser here, which is actually where she started - a loser, and she can go back to her Indiana home and await what is looking to be a contentious election for her spot in the near future. The opposition is going to hammer her for demanding the world and settling for 2019 numbers.

Conehead is still basing a lot of his budget numbers on hope, dreams and pure fantasy regarding revenue streams, so he's probably a loser on this one, too.