As hours tick by Monday, it remains unclear whether the Los Angeles Unified School District will be shut down tomorrow by a powerful union triumvirate — even though two of the three unions announced settlements on Sunday.
The protracted talks means that families of 390,000 students still must scramble to make contingency plans for their children Tuesday — and some 70,000 workers, including teachers and school principals, don’t know if they will be at work or on a picket line.
The holdout union, Local 99 of Service Employees International Union, is scheduled to resume mediation Monday afternoon. All three unions have pledged to go out if any of the three does not achieve a tentative agreement.
Negotiators were taking a respite Monday morning after a Sunday mediation session that lasted from about 10 a.m. till about 9:30 p.m.
Both sides also will use the morning to assess the status of talks and where they want to go next in bargaining to break the stalemate or achieve final gains.
Local 99 represents about 30,000 teacher aides, campus aides, gardeners, custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and tech support staff.
The Board of Education begins a closed session at 10 a.m. at district headquarters, just west of downtown. The top agenda item is “Conference with Labor Negotiators.” All the district unions are listed because the board must discuss potential actions its several non-striking unions are likely to take on Tuesday: Will they honor picket lines? Will its members be available to carry out emergency tasks on campuses or provide support for families? Those unions represent school police, school clerical workers and custodial and cafeteria supervisors, among others.
The two unions with tentative agreements announced Sunday are United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles/Teamsters 2010.
UTLA represents about 37,000 teachers, nurses, counselors, psychologists and librarians.
AALA represents about 3,000 principals and assistant principals — all of whom have a teaching credential. A separate unit represents middle managers who don’t have a teaching credential.
Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99 said Sunday that union solidarity remains strong as bargaining continues.
“We continue to be open to the mediation process with the school district,” Arias said. “Just as we work together every day in our classrooms and campuses, we are proud to be united with teachers and principals in the fight for our schools, students, and communities.”
He added: “LAUSD can avert a strike by ending the harassment and retaliation against SEIU Local 99 workers and presenting proposals that ensure equity and fairness for everyone who contributes to student learning.”
His last point relates to the rationale for the walkout, which is defined as an unfair-practice strike in response to alleged district violations of legally protected organizing rights of union members. Such walkouts frequently have a beginning and end date but Local 99’s strike would be open-ended — which means school would be indefinitely closed by the three-union solidarity walk-out.
The district denies the labor violations and both sides have filed accusations against the other with the state labor governing body. Such alleged violations are almost always dismissed as part of a settlement.
Among the employees, the strike would likely fall hardest on Local 99 members, who are typically the lowest paid union workers — averaging about $35,000 in salary per year, although their jobs typically come with family health benefits, provided that the employee works at least 20 hours per week.
Local 99 has announced it will coordinate distribution of food boxes for members in need. Food distribution will take place “after the strike rallies” at downtown’s Molina Grand Park on Tuesday and Friday.
“Quantities are limited,” the union noted. “We encourage you to register and come prepared — for example, bringing a cart to carry items.”
A two-track day
Staging a strike is a huge undertaking, as is preparing to cope with a strike.
Monday has thus become a two-track day — bargaining under intense pressure while girding for a walkout.
The district has posted lists of food distribution sites and community-based “child supervision” sites that could take in a limited number of children.
Children with moderate to severe disabilities cannot be accommodated. Nor can children younger than 4.
Acting Supt. Andres Chait said the district knows from experience that many families will not seek out childcare, but it’s also difficult to predict who will want it and in what areas.
Some locations could be mostly empty; others overcrowded and turning people away.
Still possible to avert strike
There is hope that a strike can be averted following the Sunday announcement of tentative deals with UTLA and AALA
Local 99 members have been working under terms of an expired contract since June 30, 2024.
In its posted materials, the district describes its offer as 13% over three years. But this posting is likely out of date. The union wants more than that, with the terms varying depending on the job.
In recent deals, Local 99 has sought and achieved higher percentage raises than UTLA and AALA. Union and district leaders have supported higher-percentage raises to those earning less to make the increase more meaningful for those who need it most.
Local 99 also is seeking stable work schedules because many members have had their hours reduced due to budget cuts. In some cases, these workers fell below the threshold of hours needed to qualify for health benefits.
Details on the two other deals
The administrators deal includes a pay increase of 11.65% over two years and an opportunity to bargain for an additional raise in the third year of the three-year contract.
UTLA said the average pay increase for its members is 13.86% over a two-year pact.
Also important to administrators was an agreement to place boundaries on the potentially unlimited, uncompensated work expectations that accompany the job of principal and assistant principal.
According to the union, the district has agreed to the framework of a 40-hour week with flex time off for extra hours. It’s not clear if all the details of this provision have been ironed out.
In its proposal, UTLA wanted steep increases to the automatic “step and column” raises teachers already receive based on years of experience and additional education credits. The union said Sunday that important goals in this area had been achieved.
The union also sought to push up the annual salary of a starting teacher. Under the agreement, this pay would immediately rise from $68,965 to $77,000, an 11.7% jump.
UTLA has said the raises are needed to offset the impact of inflation in an already high-cost region. If the raise results in better teacher retention, then the district and students also would benefit — provided that the increase is affordable.
According to the union, the tentative agreement also includes:
- Expanding student support by adding more than 450 attendance counselors, psychiatric social workers, school psychologists and counselor positions.
- Better control of class sizes for students with disabilities — including extra pay for teachers whose classes exceed the maximum number.
- Establishing protections against subcontracting and artificial intelligence.
- Commitments to support immigrant students and families, including expansion of resource centers for them.
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