Mayor, city workers union announce tentative agreement, averting strike before election

Supporters and AFSCME members who work for the city of Chicago picket in the Loop Oct. 27. (Pat Nabong/Sun-Times file)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday announced a tentative agreement with AFSCME Council 31 but refused to disclose the cost or terms of the new contract that averted the threat of a preelection strike by more than 3,000 city workers.

A joint statement from Lightfoot and Roberta Lynch, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, said only that the agreement would “improve the economic security and working lives of thousands of dedicated frontline” employees who hold civilian jobs in the Chicago Police Department, serve as food sanitation inspectors and librarians and serve in roughly a dozen city departments.