Back paychecks totaling $185 million could soon be in the mail to Chicago’s 4,800 firefighters and paramedics who have been waiting four years for a new contract — and the pay raise the comes with it.

The City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development took the first step Tuesday by ratifying a new six-year contract that includes none of the cost-cutting concessions that Mayor Brandon Johnson and his two predecessors talked about, but never really pursued.

Close to 80% of the rank-and-file participated in the union’s ratification vote, and 73% of them voted in favor of the agreement.

“It’s been too long. It’s been over four years. By the time this thing takes effect, it’ll be four-and-a-half years,” Pat Cleary, president of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, told committee member

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