The strike became a political issue, as both GOP presidential nominee Mitt Rom-ney, and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., sided with Emanuel and blasted the union, one of the largest in Democratic President Barack Obama’s home town.

Teachers won a 3% raise in the first year of the pact, which expires in July 2015, followed by two 2% raises. The paraprofessionals got raises of 4%, 2% and 2%.

Pay, Emanuel’s plans for longer school days and a longer year, and his determination that teachers should be graded – and fired – based more on student test scores were key issues that drove the teachers to strike. So were bad conditions for kids – no air conditioning and textbooks up to six weeks late.

The new contract says the two sides agreed on the school days issue beforehand, according to a contract outline from the CTU. And while the state legislature canceled the last raise from the old contract, the new pact says the “Chicago Public Schools can no longer cancel raises based on budget appropriations.”

It also says teacher evaluations will be determined by a joint school system-CTU committee “which will establish rules for local criteria in evaluation.” That panel “will conduct a study of the evaluation plan and the committee will decide” on changes.

“The board tried to eliminate the definition of grievance, but we retained it. Employees can only be disciplined for just cause; no more arbitrary discipline” and the “board must provide CTU with documents prior to grievance hearings,” the pact adds.

This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.