With contract negotiations stalled, Los Angeles teachers union leaders are widely expected to announce a strike date on Wednesday that, if done, would disrupt the education of about 390,000 students.
The announcement will be made to coincide with a massive rally in Gloria Molina Grand Park in front of City Hall in Downtown LA – which will be attended by the three employee unions.
Sources have confirmed that the union’s board of elected member leaders is meeting on Wednesday morning to decide on the strike date. Once the strike date has been decided, it does not mean that a walkout is inevitable. If both the parties reach an agreement before the date comes, the strike can be avoided.
If this happens then the work stoppage would be an open strike which could continue until an agreement is reached. The last such strike lasted for six days in January 2019.
The rally will mark a high-profile moment; If the pattern matches previous events it is expected to attract thousands of people.
United Teachers Los Angeles represents more than 30,000 classroom teachers, psychologists, attendance counselors, guidance counselors, nurses and secondary school librarians.
UTLA members are working under the terms of a contract that expired June 30. The union estimates that its latest proposal will result in an average wage increase of 17% over the next two years. The proposal focuses specifically on early-career teachers, increasing their salaries to $80,000. The top rate for an experienced teacher will be $133,972.
The unusual approach within UTLA’s salary-increase strategy is to increase automatic increases based on years of experience and education credits earned. If successful, this outcome would entail sustained and significant increases – and offer a better hedge against inflation – without having to fight for these increases in every negotiating cycle.
The district’s counterproposals include an 8% increase over two years with a potentially higher increase in the second year if district reserves remain stable. Currently, the District estimates that these reserves will shrink markedly.
For the last three-year cycle, UTLA won a 21% raise, giving additional pay to union members with high-demand skills, including nurses who received an additional $20,000 boost to better compete with nursing jobs outside of academia.
The school system highlighted such past benefits — prompting union Vice President Julie Van Winkle to respond Tuesday morning.
“And now teachers have the courage to ask for more,” said Van Winkle, who set aside the union for input during a portion of the Board of Education meeting. “So I’m here today to tell you that, yes, we have that courage. And the reason is that, even though we got a significant raise a few years ago, our wages have not kept pace with inflation.”
Van Winkle then took a dig at the LA school superintendent. Alberto Carvalho, whose real estate investments were recently revealed.
“Our members are not trying to buy one house in San Pedro and six houses in Florida,” Van Winkle said. “They’re just trying to afford the rent in the district in which they teach. We’re being paid rent out of the district that we serve. And so, yes, we have the courage to ask that our pay be high enough to allow us to live where we work, and, yes, we will continue to demand more resources for our students.”
Carvalho would normally be the district’s foremost voice representing the management perspective, but the school board voted 7 to 0 to place her on paid administrative leave on Feb. 27 — two days after the FBI raided her San Pedro home and Downtown L.A. office.
In a recent statement, Carvalho denied wrongdoing and said he would like to return to work. The FBI has not made a statement, but reputable sources have confirmed that the investigation involves failed startup AllHire, which was hired by LA Unified to create an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot called “Aid.” The chatbot was never fully deployed and was unplugged after three months.
In late January, union members voted overwhelmingly to give their leadership the authority to call a strike at their discretion.
In March 2023, UTLA conducted a sympathy strike by joining Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union in a three-day walkout. Local 99 represents more than 30,000 workers without any teaching certificates, including teacher aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, computer technicians, custodians and gardeners. Their members include some of the lowest-paid employees in the district, and they are working under the terms of a contract that expires on June 30, 2024.
Local 99 is also participating in Wednesday’s rally.
The members of that union have also authorized their union leaders to call a strike at their discretion.
“Our bargaining team is currently discussing setting a deadline for the district to reach an agreement or call a strike,” spokeswoman Blanca Gallegos said. “LAUSD can avert a strike by coming to the bargaining table and ensuring respect for frontline school workers and resources for our students.”
District officials — usually Carvalho — have acknowledged the billions of dollars in reserves, but stressed that ongoing commitments and declining revenues are on track to deplete those reserves in about three years unless the district adopts austerity measures.
Financial pressures on the district include the expiration of pandemic aid, declining enrollment and a wave of sexual misconduct settlements — which have also put financial pressure on other public agencies.
The school board – facing deficit spending and a gloomy internal forecast – voted to send layoff notices on February 18, which is expected to result in the cuts of 657 jobs – labor groups called the move unnecessary and harmful to students.
LA Unified has avoided large-scale layoffs in recent years — and started the current school year with $5 billion in reserves as part of an $18.8 billion budget.
Other participants in Wednesday’s rally are the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents about 3,000 principals, assistant principals and central and regional office middle managers. This is the first time for AALA to have engaged in joint union action of this magnitude. The AALA membership recently voted to affiliate with the Teamsters.
