Labor leaders announced that no deal had been reached on Thursday, March 23, but discussions continued as the sun set on the historic three-day strike that shut down America’s second largest school system.
SEIU Local 99 said that their members — 30,000 bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, instructional aides and special education assistants — would be back on the job on Friday. So will members of the teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, who walked off the job in solidarity with the striking service workers.
“Tomorrow we will be back at work in cafeterias and classrooms knowing we are not only in a stronger position to bargain for wages and staffing, we now have a stronger voice to fight for our students,” said food service worker Theresa Thomas.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had nothing to say regarding the progress of negotiations, but expressed his excitement for schools to reopen.
“Welcome back to school. Tomorrow will be a great day of instruction and learning,” he tweeted on Thursday evening.
Related: 4 years since the last LAUSD strike, what’s different this time?
Mayor Karen Bass, who stepped into the fray Wednesday to try to speed the route to a resolution, was similarly silent on the subject of bargaining.
Workers expressed both pride and frustration after spending three days picketing without pay — through rain, wind, hail and even a little sunshine at last on Thursday — and still having no agreement.
“There was a point for this and there should should be results,” said Denise Robledo, a long-term substitute teacher at Avalon Elementary STEAM Academy.
The unions nevertheless went out with a bang as they concluded the strike with a boisterous rally at L.A. State Historic Park that included thousands of picketers, thunderous chants, impassioned speeches and even a mariachi performance.
“It’s way past time that you get the respect, the raises and the support you deserve,” said Heather Conroy, executive vice president of SEIU, as she addressed the thousands of workers at the rally.
Related: LAUSD strike: School closures may harm students’ progress – but also be a teachable moment
The strike marked the first time SEIU Local 99 members had walked off the job since 1969. It was made doubly historic by the unity displayed between UTLA and SEIU.
“The fact that they had to close down all the schools shows how essential we are,” said Amy Oui, a music teacher at Polytechnic High School, who attended the rally. “We literally keep the schools open.”
The joint power of the 65,000 workers made national headlines and attracted statements of support from politicians at the city, state and federal level.
“We won the respect we’ve been demanding and it feels like the world is finally listening,” said Thomas.
Though vexing, the lack of an agreement did not appear to catch workers off guard. The district and union leaders have already been bargaining for around a year without being able to see eye-to-eye.
“It’s disappointing but expected,” said Yuliana Barrera, a teaching assistant at Montara Avenue Elementary School, at the rally. “We don’t have high hopes for the superintendent with how he’s treated us in the past. We’re going to keep standing up, though.”
Negotiations will go on, with Bass’ office saying the mayor “will continue to work privately with all parties to reach an agreement to reopen the schools and guarantee fair treatment of all LAUSD workers.”
Max Arias, Executive Director of SEIU Local 99 issued the following statement on Thursday: “We are grateful that the Mayor has stepped in to provide leadership in an effort to find a path out of our current impasse. Education workers have always been eager to negotiate as long as we are treated with respect and bargained with fairly, and with the Mayor’s leadership we believe that is possible.”
The district thanked Bass for her involvement and assured parents it was doing “everything possible” to arrive at a deal.
A statement said the district was striving to “reach an agreement that honors the hard work of our employees, corrects historic inequities maintains the financial stability of the district and brings students back to the classroom,” stated the district on Wednesday. “We are hopeful these talks continue and look forward to updating our school community on a resolution.
LAUSD teachers and staff are marching in front of Avalon Gardens Elementary & STEAM Academy on the third day of the @LASchools strike. #LAUSDStrike @ladailynews pic.twitter.com/kJ8Mncfdif
— Christina Merino (@christinam_love) March 23, 2023
The final day of the strike began the same was the first two did, with picketers chanted before dawn at a Los Angeles Unified School District bus yard — this time, it was the BD Bus Yard on 17th Street. By 7 a.m. picket lines had again formed at school sites across the city.
In the northeast corner of the district more than 50 workers gathered at San Fernando’s Cesar Chavez Learning Academy. In this low-income, primarily industrial area, the constant sound of honking trucks reverberated through the picket line, but workers paid little heed as they chanted, clapped and danced to salsa music.
Elivia Sabia, a special-education assistant, said that the district’s low pay has driven her to the picket line for the past three days. She has two sons and took out sizable loans to help put them through college while living paycheck-to-paycheck herself.
Related: What is the living wage LAUSD workers are striking for?
“Inflation is going up and it makes life hard,” Sabia said. “They need to increase our salaries and we know they can do it. Kids are the future and we (SEIU workers) support them but we can barely support our own families.”
About 36 miles away, in the sliver of the City of L.A. sandwiched between Gardena and Compton, workers rallied at the Avalon Gardens Elementary & STEAM Academy. Avalon Gardens is one of the oldest public housing projects in the city and many of its low-income residents send their children to this school.
“We want to get what we work for, we want to get what we deserve and for us to get back to our students,” said Tawanda Evans, a special-education assistant who has been with the district for 27 years.
A small counter-strike took place in front of LAUSD’s Downtown headquarters at 9 a.m. on Friday as a group of around 30 LAUSD parents with the group Parent Network for Quality Education vented their frustrations at loosing three days of instruction. The protesting parents were mainly low-income Latino families, many of whom have children with specials needs and who are English language learners.
“We agree that the workers should better their lives and pay,” Juan Jose Mangandi said in Spanish. “The superintendent offered them salary increases but they want more. They don’t think about the kids.”
According to the district, LAUSD last week made an offer that included a 5% wage increase retroactive to July 2021, another 5% increase retroactive to July 2022 and another 5% increase effective July 2023, along with a 4% bonus in 2022-23 and a 5% bonus in 2023-24.
On Monday, Carvalho said the district sweetened the offer to an overall 23% salary increase, along with a 3% “cash-in-hand bonus.”
The union, however, has been pushing for a 30% pay raise, with an additional boost for the lowest-paid workers. They are calling on Carvalho to dip into the district’s $5 billion reserve fund to help fund this wage increase.
SEIU workers have been working without a contract since June 2020. The union declared an impasse in negotiations in December, leading to the appointment of a state mediator.
The strike is the first major labor disruption for the district since members of the teachers’ union, United Teachers Los Angeles, went on strike for six days in 2019. This time around the demands of SEIU are at the forefront of the strike with UTLA workers walking off the job in solidarity.
“SEIU workers are the first ones who smile at kids in the morning and the last ones who leave at night, so it really makes me angry that they’re underpaid and disrespected” said UTLA chapter chair Joshua Rauh, at a Friday morning picket line.
Throughout the strike, LAUSD chief Carvalho has pleaded with labor leaders to return to the bargaining table.
“I understand our employees’ frustration that has been brewing, not just for a couple of years but for a couple of decades,” Carvalho said in a Tuesday statement. “And it is on the basis of recognizing historic inequities that we have put on the table a historic proposal. This offer addresses the needs and concerns from the union, while also remaining fiscally responsible and keeping the district in a financially stable position.”
City News Service contributed to this report
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