With contract negotiations at a standstill, leaders of the Los Angeles teachers union are widely expected on Wednesday to announce the date of a strike that, if carried out, would interrupt the education of about 390,000 students.
The announcement would be timed to coincide with a massive rally — involving three employee unions — in Gloria Molina Grand Park, across from City Hall in downtown L.A.
The union’s board of elected member leaders is meeting Wednesday morning to determine the strike date, sources have confirmed. Once a strike date is set, it does not mean a walkout is inevitable. A strike could be avoided if the two sides reach an agreement before the date arrives.
The work stoppage, if it happens, would be an open-ended strike that could last until an agreement is reached. The last such strike lasted for six days in January 2019.
The rally will mark a high-profile moment; it’s expected to attract thousands if the pattern holds from similar past events.
United Teachers Los Angeles represents more than 30,000 classroom teachers, psychologists, attendance counselors, guidance counselors, nurses and secondary school librarians.
UTLA members have been working under terms of a contract that expired on June 30. The union estimates that its latest proposal would, on average, result in a 17% salary increase over the next two years. The proposal especially focuses on early-career teachers, raising their pay to $80,000. The top rate for an experienced educator would be $133,972.
The unusual approach within UTLA’s salary-hike strategy is to greatly increase the automatic raises that occur based on years of experience and acquired education credits. If successful, this outcome would embed ongoing and significant raises — and offer a better hedge against inflation — without having to fight for these increases in every negotiating cycle.
Counteroffers from the district have included an 8% raise over two years with a possible higher raise in the second year if district reserves were to hold steady. Currently, the district predicts that these reserves will shrink markedly.
For the previous three-year cycle, UTLA won a 21% raise, with additional pay going to union members with high-demand skills, including nurses, who received an extra $20,000 bump to better compete with nursing jobs outside education.
The school system has highlighted such past gains — prompting union Vice President Julie Van Winkle to respond Tuesday morning.
“And now the teachers have the audacity to ask for more,” said Van Winkle, who spoke during a portion of the Board of Education meeting set aside for union input. “So I’m here to tell you today that, yes, we do have that audacity. 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 swipe at L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho, whose real estate investments came to light recently.
“Our members aren’t trying to buy one house in San Pedro and six houses in Florida,” Van Winkle said. “They’re just trying to afford rent in the district in which they teach. We’re being priced out of the district we serve. And so, yeah, we do have the audacity to ask that our salaries are enough to allow us to live where we work, and, yes, we are going to keep demanding more resources for our students.”
Carvalho would typically be the district’s out-front voice to represent the management perspective, but the school board voted 7 to 0 to place him on paid administrative leave Feb. 27 — two days after the FBI raided his 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 made no statement, but well-placed sources have confirmed that the investigation involves the failed startup AllHere, which L.A. Unified hired to create an all-purpose, artificial intelligence chatbot named “Ed.” The chatbot was never fully deployed and was unplugged after three months.
In late January, union members voted overwhelming to give their leadership the authority to call a strike at its discretion.
In March 2023, UTLA staged a sympathy strike, joining the three-day walkout of Local 99 of Service Employees International Union. Local 99 represents more than 30,000 employees without a teaching credential, including teacher aides, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, computer techs, custodians and gardeners. Their members include some of the district’s lowest-paid workers, and they have been working under terms of a contract that expired on June 30, 2024.
Local 99 also is taking part in the Wednesday rally.
That union’s members also have authorized their union’s 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 for a strike,” spokesperson 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 — typically Carvalho — have acknowledged a multibillion-dollar reserve but have insisted that ongoing commitments and declining revenue are on track to exhaust 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 also have placed financial stress on other public agencies.
The school board — confronted with deficit spending and a gloomy internal forecast — narrowly voted Feb. 18 to send out layoff notices that are expected to result in 657 job cuts — moves strongly opposed by labor groups as unnecessary and harmful to students.
L.A. Unified has largely avoided layoffs in recent years — and began the current school year with a $5-billion reserve as part of an $18.8-billion budget.
The other participant in the Wednesday rally is Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, which represents about 3,000 principals, assistant principals and central and regional office middle managers. It’s a first for AALA to be involved in a joint union action of this magnitude. AALA membership recently voted to affiliate with the Teamsters.
