Los Angeles Unified School District employees staged rallies in South Gate and four other locations calling for distrioct leaders to agree to new labor contracts. Five of the district’s eight unions are working with expired contracts.
Courtesy photo
Wave Staff Report
LOS ANGELES — In a show of solidarity, thousands of educators, principals, food service workers, custodians, teaching assistants, administrators, school safety officers, school site construction workers and other education employees rallied at five locations citywide Nov. 6 with a clear message for the Los Angeles Unified School District leadership: stop hoarding funds and invest in schools and the workers who make them run.
Despite months of bargaining, the district has made little to no progress on new labor agreements even as the district sits on $5.03 billion in reserves. Five of the district’s eight union contracts have already expired.
“Educators have been at the bargaining table with the district for more than eight months,” said Esmeralda Gonzalez, an LAUSD educator and parent. “We are calling for concrete support for immigrant families; more counselors, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers, and other critical support our schools urgently need.
“For eight months, most of LAUSD’s answers to our solutions are no! It’s clear they don’t feel the urgency we and our families feel.”
Workers say that while LAUSD claims to seek stability, its proposals and ongoing delays in contract negotiations are doing the opposite. The district’s reluctance to settle has created insecurity and is pushing an already stretched workforce to the brink.
“Across the district, school administrative assistants like me have been doing the jobs of three people, yet we’re barely being paid like one,” said Jennifer Miranda, a school administrative assistant and member of Teamsters Local 572. “When the district piles on new programs, new systems, and new expectations, it’s us absorbing the extra work from every direction.
“And still, our unit has been waiting over 18 months for a fair contract. After all that time, the district’s offer? A 2% raise.”
“The district has been holding town halls telling parents like me that they are broke, but we know they have $5 billion in reserves,” said Aida Maravilla Orta, a parent and member of Reclaim Our Schools. “That’s taxpayer money, and we are here to demand in one voice that it should be spent on the needs of our students!”
Parents, students and members from all eight LAUSD unions are united in their demand for fair contracts that strengthen school stability and protect students from disinvestment. Workers are calling for smaller class sizes, fully staffed counseling and support services, expanded arts and academic programs, stronger support for immigrant students and families, and safe, well-maintained campuses.
“Working people are the builders and shakers of LAUSD — and we demand top notch student services so our kids can realistically, not conceptually, be ready for the world,” said Maria Nichols, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles. “We reject a system where a few at the top are making close to and over $300,000 while our schools are underfunded, families are struggling and our communities are under attack.”
“Students are living through times of fear and uncertainty,” said Max Arias, executive director of SEIU Local 99. “Those who teach and support our students are struggling. More than ever — we need fully funded, fully staffed, schools.
“As the largest school district in California, LAUSD cannot sit back and wring its hands. It cannot make excuses or hide behind Trump’s threats to public education. And it cannot respond by harming the very people who keep this school district running.”
LAUSD employees, who continue to show up for students every day despite uncertainty about their own health care and pay, are urging the district to do the same: invest its $5 billion reserves to strengthen school communities, not bolster austerity.
