Los Angeles schools and 30,000 workers reach tentative deal after strike

LOS ANGELES — The union representing 30,000 education workers reached a tentative deal Friday with the Los Angeles Unified School District, following a three-day strike that earlier this week closed hundreds of campuses and canceled classes for 422,000 students.

Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents support staff in the district, said Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, had met its key demands, including a 30 percent pay raise. The deal still needs to be voted on by the full union.

Mayor Karen Bass announced the deal Friday at City Hall with Max Arias, the executive director of Local 99, and Alberto Carvalho, the district superintendent.

“I am grateful that we were able to reach an agreement to move forward today,” Mayor Bass said, adding, “I am hopeful that this is the start of a new relationship that will lead to a stronger LAUSD and a brighter future.” for his workers and students in the years to come.”

During the strike, the union had stressed that many of its members were earning little more than minimum wage and were struggling to pay their bills in expensive Southern California.

Local 99 members — including gardeners, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and special education assistants — were joined by the Los Angeles Teachers Union, which is currently negotiating its own contract and had asked its 35,000 members to walk out in solidarity. All told, this meant that as many as 65,000 school employees were part of the work stoppage.

The strike, which started on Tuesday, was limited to three days and schools had already reopened by Friday morning, before Local 99 agreed to a preliminary contract.

Local 99 members worked without a contract since July 1, 2020. The new deal gives them a series of retroactive pay increases and runs through June 30, 2024, the school district said.

The minimum wage will be set at $22.52 per hour and workers hired by June 30, 2021 will receive a one-time bonus of $1,000, the district said. A $3 million educational and professional development fund for union members will also be established.

Mr Arias said his members’ salaries would increase by 15 percent if ratified. After January 1, their salaries would be about 30 percent higher than on Tuesday, when the strike began.

“This has the potential for transformational change,” he said in an interview Friday night. “We want this to be a spark to rethink our schools, our values ​​around education. When 65,000 educators tell parents that we need to do this to improve conditions, it is powerful.”

The SEIU employees have argued that they represent about 40 percent of the school district’s workforce, but less than 10 percent of its budget. However, the deal could pose a greater financial challenge to the district because when one of the many unions negotiates favorable terms, the rest typically demand them as well. For example, teachers make up the lion’s share of the district payroll and are widely expected to consider the SEIU deal in their contract negotiations. The teachers expressed emphatic solidarity with SEIU employees and refused to cross picket lines.

Both the school district and the union have credited Mayor Bass, who took office in December, with helping broker the deal.

“She was absolutely amazing at getting everyone to talk to each other repeatedly, even when things started to go wrong,” said Jackie Goldberg, the school’s board president. She said negotiations had also been eased with the help of a mediator.

Mayor Bass said in an interview Friday night that she had been in informal talks with district and union leaders for “a few weeks” before the strike began, “but we kept it quiet.”

Ms. Bass, a former member of Congress, has long been known for her ability to bridge differences, particularly between fellow Democrats, through silent, back-channel conversations. Elected with SEIU’s backing, she was a natural go-between, even though Los Angeles mayors have little power over the schools behind the pulpit.

When it became clear that face-to-face meetings would not be enough to prevent the strike, she said, she offered the two sides a neutral meeting space at Los Angeles City Hall.

Part of her job, she said, was to help the union understand the superintendent, who has spent most of his career in Florida. And part of her job was helping the supervisor and the district understand the situation of the workers.

“We’re talking about the lowest wages in the school district,” she said. “Many of them had such low incomes that they were insecure about housing. A number of them were in and out of homelessness.”

That, she said, was both a surprise and a stimulating discovery for her. “I didn’t know,” she said, adding that the strike had been “an education” for much of the city.

“When you think of low-wage workers, you don’t think of school workers,” she said. “You might think of fast food workers. But you don’t think about individuals who care for children with special needs.

Many of the supporters this week said their jobs were only part-time, meaning they have to find a second or third job to pay their bills. At the press conference, Mr Carvalho said the preliminary deal would provide additional hours of work, as well as health benefits for part-time workers who work four or more hours a day, including coverage for their dependents.

“I have no doubt that this contract will be seen as a precedent-setting, historic contract that enhances the dignity and humanity of our workforce, respects the needs of our students, but also ensures the fiscal viability of our district for years to come. come,’ said Mr Carvalho. “Those were vital priorities for all of us.”

Hugo Montelongo, a special education assistant at a high school in the San Fernando Valley, said that “nothing compares to what we just accomplished.” Mr. Montelongo, 52, said he had worked for the district for more than 20 years and was passionate about working with students who focused on life skills. The employment contract, he said, was a long-awaited sign that people like him are valued.

“We do it with love, but you can’t get by with love,” he said. “It feels like they finally respect what we do, accept that what we do is worth more.”

Mr Montelongo said the agreement would allow him to work 35 hours a week, instead of 30, which will help him during the summer months when he is not receiving a salary. Over the past year, his utility bills have skyrocketed, as have the cost of food, insurance, and gas.

“Our wages have not kept pace with inflation,” he said. “In Los Angeles, the cost of living is ridiculous.”

After three days of protests, 24-year-old Belen Perez was exhausted as she went to work Friday at an elementary school in Koreatown.

Ms. Perez, a teacher’s assistant, said she was paid less than when she was a cashier at a CVS pharmacy. But she likes to try to include kids in the classroom and thought the low pay was worth the experience when she studied to become a speech-language pathologist.

When her group chat exploded late Friday afternoon with the news of the employment contract, Ms. Perez had no regrets about taking to the picket lines.

“It was a relief, because it showed that something was really coming out of this strike.”