The start of a massive three-day strike led by the lowest-paid public school workers and supported by teachers shut down Los Angeles campuses Tuesday amid a fierce morning thunderstorm, forced parents to scramble for day care and meals and brought thousands of protesters to campuses and a boisterous afternoon rally downtown.
The strike capped months of labor tensions in the nation’s second-largest school district. Bus drivers, custodians, special education aides and cafeteria workers – all members of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union – have been bargaining with the district, demanding a 30% wage increase, plus $2 more per hour for the lowest-paid employees.
Last-ditch efforts to avert a work stoppage failed late Monday, setting the stage for the strike. No new negotiations are planned. Director Alberto Carvalho pleaded with employees to return to the bargaining table on Tuesday.
But the determination of frustrated union members and their leaders – and the terms of the district’s latest offer – could not prevent the strike. The walkout, scheduled for three days, is technically a protest of alleged unfair labor practices by the school district.
Max Arias, executive director of Local 99, said the decision to walk off the job was the workers’ “last resort” after nearly a year of negotiations for better wages. The union’s goal has been to raise members’ average annual salary to $36,000.
“We’re sick of empty promises,” Arias said from the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Koreatown. “If LAUSD really values and is serious about reaching an agreement, they need to show workers the respect they deserve.”
In the 5 a.m. darkness, when bus drivers usually start their day, hundreds of district employees joined the protest line at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Van Nuys bus yard, marching in rain slickers and swinging signs with umbrellas. Starting at 6:30 a.m., the demonstrations converged on schools across the sprawling district as heavy rain drenched them.
Alejandra Sanchez, a special education assistant, joined 20 other demonstrators in front of Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School. Her job is not easy, as she works with students with often unpredictable behavioral problems.
She chanted “Fair Wages” from Yosemite Drive and La Roda Avenue while holding a sign that read “Respect us! Pay us!”
“I love my job and the students,” said Sanchez, 45. “And it’s sad that I have to stand up today in the rain to fight for respect because the district doesn’t understand what I and so many others do.”
Wages for aides working with special education students start at about $19 an hour, and they can earn up to about $24 an hour working six hours a day.
“We are here speaking on behalf of our SEIU brothers and sisters who live below the poverty line,” said Pablo Oliveros, 41, an art teacher for 21 years. “This can’t keep happening.”
By mid-afternoon, red-clad United Teachers Los Angeles members and local SEIU members, wrapped in purple clothing, surrounded L.A. Unified’s headquarters. They overflowed 3rd and Boylston streets and stretched to 4th Street and Beaudry Avenue.
Setting off firecrackers and ringing bells, they called on Carvalho to negotiate. Some carried signs depicting the superintendent as a character from “Miami Vice,” a reference to his former job as head of the Miami-Dade school district.
This weekend, the district offered a cumulative 23% raise, starting with 2% retroactive starting in the 2020-21 school year and ending with 5% in 2024-25. The package also included a one-time 3% bonus for those who have been on the job since 2020-21, along with expanded schedules, more full-time positions and improved eligibility for health care benefits.
“This is a historic offer,” Carvalho said during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting. “It recognizes that these are employees who have made enormous sacrifices. This board, myself, my staff, have incredible respect for our bus drivers, for our custodial staff, for those who prepare and deliver meals for our students.”
District officials have denied wrongdoing in connection with an unfair labor practice complaint filed by Local 99; Carvalho has pledged