Tens of thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) workers will strike for three days next week over stalled contract talks and teachers will join them, likely shutting down the nation’s second-largest school system , union leaders announced on Wednesday. .
La huelga will come to el martes 21 de marzo hasta el viernes 24. Fue anunciado en un mitin por el Sindicato Internacional de Empleados de Servicios, which represents 30,000 assistant maestros, conductors of buses, canteens, trabajadores de la cafeteria y otro personal de support.
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the union that represents 35,000 teachers, counselors and other staff, expressed solidarity.
He sent 10 days’ notice to inform her of his intention to go on strike.
“Educators will join our union brethren on the picket lines,” said a tweet from UTLA.
Teachers went on a six-day strike in 2019 over pay and contract issues, but schools remained open.
This time, schools would likely close and there would be no access to virtual learning, Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said Monday in an email to parents.
“We would simply have no way of ensuring a safe and secure environment where teaching can take place,” Carvalho said.
On Wednesday, Carvalho accused the union of refusing to negotiate and said he was ready to meet “day and night” to avoid a strike, which he said would hurt students who are already struggling to regain lost academic ground. when classrooms were closed and forced. learning remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At a press conference, he said avoiding a strike will “prevent children from staying home, prevent children in our community from going hungry without access to the food they get at school” .
“We ask that you come to the table for staff and students, starting now,” he said in a later statement.
The union is calling for fair wage increases, more full-time work, respectful treatment and higher staffing levels to improve student services.
According to the SEIU, district support staff earn an average of about $25,000 a year, and many live in poverty due to low pay or limited work hours as they battle inflation and high cost. housing in Los Angeles County. The union is asking for a 30% raise. The teachers want a 20% salary increase in two years.
The district made what it called a historic offer to the SEIU of a partially retroactive $15 salary increase and 9% retention bonuses.
The strike enjoys broad support among union members. Thousands of people, many dressed in red, demonstrated outside City Hall on Wednesday, waving banners, chanting and rallying support in the hours before the strike date was announced.
LAUSD teachers protested the district’s planned 4 days of “optional” instruction. They ensure that teachers and students need resources, not more teaching days.
The district has over 500,000 students. Serves Los Angeles and all or part of 25 other cities and unincorporated county areas.
SEIU members have been working without contracts since June 2020 and teachers’ contracts expired in June 2022. The unions decided last week not to accept any further extensions to their contracts.