This document recounts the events, from the administration's point of view, leading to the inception of collective bargaining between the City Colleges of Chicago and the Cook County College Teachers Union in 1967. In this account, Chancellor Shabat recalls the critical closing moments of the negotiations during the spring of 1967. For some time prior to the contract signing, the union and the board were at an impasse over college teaching load, historically 15 contact hours per week. The demand by the union for a twelve-contact-hour teaching load had no real basis in practice among community colleges and was consistently rejected until enough pressure forced the chancellor to concede. Some of the widespread ramifications caused by this change include overwhelming staff-hiring responsibilities, increased student expenses (especially tuition), and the decision by many teachers to take on second jobs once their hours were cut. Since the late 1960's, only 600 of the former 1,350 full time faculty remain. Sixty percent of the teaching faculty are now part-time, and faculty tenure has been eliminated and replaced by employment contracts. Overall, faculty are receiving more pay for less work, and their perceptions of collective bargaining are positive, while the administration tends to see the process as an invasion of its assigned role. (AS)