Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Unified School District continued to meet April 14 with Service Employees International Union Local 99 — Education Workers United in hopes of reaching an agreement that would avert a strike on April 15 and keep campuses open for hundreds of thousands of students, after reaching tentative agreements with two other unions.
The Los Angeles Unified School District reached a tentative agreement April 13 with Associated Administrators Los Angeles, which represents roughly 3,000 administrators, after reaching a tentative two-year agreement earlier in the day with United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing its roughly 35,000 educators.
“Los Angeles Unified is pleased to announce that … the district reached a tentative agreement with Associated Administrators Los Angeles Teamsters 2010 that increases their members’ salary by 11.65% over two years and a reopener for year three,” district officials announced in a statement.
The tentative agreements reached with the two unions representing teachers and administrators would not avert a strike because those unions are expected to honor picket lines if an agreement cannot be reached with SEIU, which represents about 30,000 bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and special education assistants.
UTLA noted the agreement on Instagram, pointing out that its members still need to vote to approve the contract.
“Early this morning UTLA’s 150-member Bargaining Team reached a tentative two-year agreement with the district with big wins that the team enthusiastically recommends to UTLA members for ratification,” the union said in a statement. “The flexing of our collective power forced LAUSD to direct significant funding into critical priorities identified by UTLA members in the Win Our Future contract demands.” promising that more details would be forthcoming in an email to its members.
According to the union, among the terms of the proposed deal is an increase in starting teacher pay from $68,966 to $77,000, along with a “significant pay increase and restructuring of LAUSD’s outdated salary table point system to help recruit new educators and retain veteran teachers amid a growing teacher shortage.”
A later Instagram post noted the agreement also includes a flexible work day, smaller class sizes and student support staffing.
“This success comes after 11 months at the bargaining table and an eight-month democratic process in which UTLA members and the community identified priorities and spent a year of intense collective action to force LAUSD to agree to (these) tentative proposals,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said.
The teachers union, along with SEIU Local 99 and AALA, combined represent nearly 70,000 LAUSD employees, and the three had agreed to jointly walk out in solidarity April 15 if contract agreements were not reached — a move that would have hobbled daily operations at the district’s 1,302 campuses.
That three-union pact also means a strike or some type of work stoppage remains in play if the district fails to reach agreements with the SEIU.
A top official with SEIU Local 99 said April 13 that the union would “continue to move forward with plans to strike starting” April 15.
“The tentative agreement reached by United Teachers Los Angeles demonstrates that the school district can make movement to address the needs of front-line workers and the students we serve,” SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias said. “We continue to be open to the mediation process with the school district. Just as we work together every day in our classrooms and campuses, we are proud to be united with teachers and principals in the fight for our schools, students, and communities.
“LAUSD can avert a strike by ending the harassment and retaliation against SEIU Local 99 workers and presenting proposals that ensure equity and fairness for everyone who contributes to student learning.”
The announcement April 13 came amid a marathon negotiation session that had been underway since April 12.
LAUSD, the nation’s second-largest school system, serves roughly 400,000 students daily, providing education, meals and child care.
On April 9, district officials launched a dedicated website — schoolupdates.lausd.org — where students, parents and others could keep tabs on the negotiations and find available resources including food distribution sites, learning and mental health resources, alternative child care options, as well as tech support for devices and connectivity.
