Los Angeles school officials defended their contract proposals Thursday, saying “no one wants a strike” — a day after setting a strike date of April 14 if no agreement is reached by the district’s two largest unions.
The Los Angeles Unified School District laid out its case at a news conference at its downtown headquarters the morning after a multiunion rally drew thousands of people to Gloria Molina Grand Park in front of City Hall.
“Nobody wants a strike,” said acting superintendent Andres Chait. “Strikes are not good for students. They’re not good for our schools. They’re not good for our families. I really believe our labor colleagues don’t want a strike either.”
The strike will affect about 400,000 students in the country’s second-largest school system and an estimated 32,000 students in adult schools. That would mean more than 60,000 essential district employees — teachers, counselors, nurses, bus drivers, janitors and cafeteria workers — would be out of a job.
Chait adopted a conciliatory tone and addressed the union leaders – who were not present.
“Please know that I respect your passion, your commitment to our students, and your leadership,” Chait said. “And I have even more respect for your members who work every day to provide a quality education to all of our students.”
Chait cited pressures he said have limited the district’s ability to offer more funding, including declining enrollment, uncertainty over state and federal funding, and the impact of increased federal immigration enforcement on attendance and enrollment, which impacts state funding.
“Any salary increase must be balanced and we are here to serve the entire public school system,” Chait said. “We certainly recognize that the cost of living in Los Angeles continues to rise, and in response, we have committed to a significant increase for our employees, among the highest offers in the state.”
Unions modify their members
The two unions setting the April 14 strike date are United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents 37,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians; and Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, whose members include bus drivers, teacher assistants, custodians, cafeteria workers, technical support specialists and gardeners.
At the rally, leaders of the three unions told the cheering crowd that the district needs to be more serious about making the concessions necessary to reach an agreement. In a message that encouraged the common people, the leaders emphasized their integrity, their purpose and their unity.
UTLA President Myart-Cruz on Wednesday warned people not to accept the district’s bleak outlook.
“When they say tomorrow, they have no money. We are in a financial crisis, will we believe them?” Mayart-Cruz urged the crowd, who responded with a raucous “No!”
“Because we’ve done it twice already,” he continued, referring to strikes in 2019 and 2023.
Max Arias, executive director of Local 99, said the district’s offer to Local 99 “keeps workers in poverty.” The proposal “ignores the housing crisis. Ninety-nine percent of Local 99 members cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. The district’s proposal leaves thousands of workers without health care — many of whom live just 15 minutes away from qualifying for benefits,” he said, referring to the work hours required to qualify.
The district offered, “Our schools continue to be understaffed. Schools are already understaffed and student services are impacted,” he said.
As an example, the union cited the staffing ratio for custodians, saying it is below the district’s own minimum standards.
Arias said any agreement would include undoing the cuts of about 700 jobs, which is expected to have a huge impact on his members.
The Board of Education approved the cuts in February as part of a plan to reduce the projected budget deficit.
The other union participating in the rally was the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents approximately 3,000 principals, assistant principals and middle managers. AALA was not part of the strike pledge, but union president Maria Nichols was on stage with Myart-Cruz and Arias and spoke at the rally.
at the bargaining table
The district highlighted the offer to employees on Wednesday and Thursday.
UTLA: In short, the district has offered an 8% raise over two years, structured in different ways. The third year of the contract will be open to salary negotiations later, and the second year could include additional increases if the union’s predictions about the district’s financial health prove true.
The union does not want an increase that would depend on potentially subjective future contingencies, claiming the district could commit to more now.
According to union analysis, the UTLA proposal would actually increase average employee wages by 17%. 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.
local 99: The district is offering 13% over three years.
The union is about to complete two full years without a contract, so the timing and amount of retroactive pay will also need to be worked out.
The union is also concerned about working hours and retaining jobs because its members include some of the lowest paid employees in the school system.
In response, LA Unified officials said the district pays 100% of the monthly health care premium for all workers and their dependents if an employee qualifies for health care by working a minimum number of hours.
According to a statement from the district, “Over the past 10 years, California’s 20 largest school districts have given average pay increases of nearly 30%.” “During that same time, LAUSD gave a 36% increase – the highest among comparable districts in the state.”
dispute regarding contract
One point of the union’s negotiations focused on the amount of money the district spends on outside contracts. So far, the union has not provided a list of contracts it considers redundant or inappropriate.
Additionally, Board of Education members have complained that district staff have not been fully transparent in providing contract information that would allow for independent evaluations.
An indisputable example of contract manipulation is the $6 million allocated to AllHire, a tech startup that was hired to design an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot for LA Unified.
The district spent nearly $3 million of that contract for a chatbot that was never fully deployed and was quickly withdrawn from service when AllHire collapsed financially. Company founder Joanna Smith-Griffin is accused of defrauding investors. He has declared himself innocent.
The ongoing federal investigation led to a raid on the home and office of the LA school superintendent. Alberto Carvalho. The school board placed Carvalho on paid leave pending further progress, which is why Chait presided over Thursday’s news conference.
Carvalho has denied wrongdoing and said he would like to return to work.
