CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

LA Teachers Strike: 68,000 Education Workers in 3 Unions Set to Walk

Image by LaTerrian McIntosh.

Three unions representing 68,000 education workers are set to strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District beginning Tuesday, April 14.

United Teachers Los Angeles has been working without a contract for nine months, in contravention of the long-held labor position of “no contract, no work!”, and we have been negotiating for over a year. Service Employees International Union Local 99 and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles have also been unable to reach an agreement with LAUSD.

In 2019, UTLA struck alone. In 2023, SEIU, which represents LAUSD bus drivers, special education assistants, custodians, and cafeteria workers, launched a three-day “Unfair Practice Charge” strike, and UTLA, refusing to cross their picket lines, conducted a three-day Solidarity Strike.

This time the three unions plan to strike together.

What Is This Strike About?

LAUSD claims it is in a financial crisis and doesn’t have the money to pay the salaries and other provisions the three unions want. UTLA and its allied unions believe LAUSD is vastly overstating its financial challenges.

LAUSD started this school year with a $5.03 billion reserve, its highest ever. In fact, LAUSD has greatly underprojected reserves every year from 2013 to 2025.

Moreover, the percentage LAUSD holds in reserve is often double or triple that held by other major California school districts. Legally, LAUSD is required to hold only 1% of its budget in reserve ($188 million).

…the district does face real problems, as the unaffordability ​of housing and changing demographics have combined to shrink LAUSD enrollment, and federal immigration actions have stemmed the flow of new students into LAUSD.

Yet LAUSD attempts to link these problems to contract negotiations and greatly exaggerates its challenges in order to mislead Los Angeles education workers into accepting an inferior contract.

LAUSD Negotiator: Teachers Take Away Money from Our Students

At a recent LAUSD-UTLA session, a consultant employed by LAUSD actually told the many educators present “all teachers are taking from their students to fund teachers’ healthcare.”

As charming as this accusation was, it isn’t an outlier. In recent months LAUSD has tried to make it appear as if UTLA’s demands are outlandish, and has implied that they can’t be met, or can only be met at the expense of others. Those others include:

Younger teachers, who LAUSD implies may be........

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