Teachers, folk music school reach tentative contract

The Old Town School of Folk Music's Lincoln Park building. Photo credit Steve Miller

By Steve Miller

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Teachers at the Old Town School of Folk Music have a tentative contract after negotiating for more than two years.

Music instructors who have been leading the union movement say they spent 10 years asking the school to address certain things like health insurance and paid time off. Union Co-President Bill Brickey says those requests fell on deaf ears.

But the contract is important and sets a precedent.

“This contract represents the beginning of what’s going to be a string, I believe, of contracts between teaching artists and the organizations they work for. And hopefully down the road, legislation that defines a baseline for treatment of people who do what we do,” Brickey said.

It’s unlikely the union got four voting seats on the board, as it sought.

The labor agreement covers a 5-year period.

“The 5-year agreement increases teacher compensation, access to benefits and creates a number of new structures that will serve the school and our faculty very well now and in the future,” OTSFM Executive Director Jim Newcomb said in a prepared statement.