LAUSD strikers call for raises, respect as schools close and parents scramble

A mammoth strike led by Los Angeles Unified’s lowest paid workers and supported by teachers shut down district campuses Tuesday amid a fierce morning storm, sent parents scrambling for child care and meals and brought out thousands of picketers to the streets demanding raises.

The strike, set to last through Thursday, culminated a months-long escalation of labor tensions in the nation’s second-largest school district of 420,000 students. Bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, cafeteria workers — members of Local 99 of Service Employees International Union — are calling for a 30% salary increase, plus $2 more per hour for the lowest-paid employees.

Last ditch-efforts to avert the walkout failed late Monday, and no new talks are scheduled. Supt. Alberto Carvalho pleaded with employees to come back to the bargaining table Tuesday, calling the district’s offer of a 23% pay increase and 3% bonus “historic.”

But frustrated union members moved forward with the strike, which is technically a protest over the school district’s alleged unfair labor practices. The walkout roiled family schedules, as thousands of parents sought day care, missed work and lined up at city centers for grab-and-go food packs of six meals to tide over their school-age children through Thursday. Some parents lamented that the school shutdown was harming their children’s emotional health and academic progress, while others said they backed the walkout.

Max Arias, head of SEIU Local 99, poses for a portrait at the union’s offices in Los Angeles on Monday.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Max Arias, executive director of Local 99, said the decision to walk off the job was a “last resort” for his 30,000 members — many of whom must take second or third jobs to survive — after almost a year of bargaining for better wages. The union’s goal has been to raise the average annual wage of members from $25,000 to $36,000.

“We’ve had enough of empty promises,” Arias said from Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Koreatown. “If LAUSD truly values and is serious about reaching an agreement, they must show workers the respect they deserve.”

In the 5 a.m darkness, when bus drivers typically begin their day, hundreds of district employees joined the picket line at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Van Nuys bus yard, marching in rain ponchos and balancing signs with umbrellas. Starting at 6:30 a.m., picketers converged at schools throughout the 700 square-mile district.

Veronica De La Paz, 46, works as a campus aide and parent representative at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School. She is limited to six hours a day between both jobs even though she would like to work more.

Her earnings of $1,100 every two weeks make it difficult for her and her husband — who works in a garment district packaging job. She calculates the cheapest meal options for her family and forgoes buying new clothes for her son, a first-grader at Hobart.

LA Unifed employees begin their massive three-day strike in front of Farmdale Elementary School in El Sereno.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“Within less than a week, it was gone, this last check. And I’m waiting for the next one,” she said. “It feels really bad to feel that way, where you have to choose [to] not buy a simple little toy for your son.”

Alejandra Sanchez, a special education assistant, joined 20 other picketers in front of Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School, holding up a “Respect Us! Pay Us!” sign.

Sanchez said her job isn’t easy, as she works with students with often unpredictable behavior. The hourly pay is low, starting at about $19 and rising to $24 for six hours a day. But she said the work is rewarding.

“I love my work and the students,” said Sanchez, 45. “And it’s sad that I have to get up today in the rain to fight for respect because the district doesn’t understand what I and so many others do.”

The walkout was supported by United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents 35,000 teachers, counselors, therapists, nurses and librarians, many of whom stayed off the job in solidarity and joined picket lines.

Danny Armstrong, a drama teacher at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences in Granada Hills, said he would need to tighten his belt to forgo pay for three days — probably eating ramen to get by. But he attended a union rally at district headquarters Tuesday — and brought his daughter Honey, a 16-year-old Valley Academy junior — to support staff members who keep schools running.

“It breaks my heart that the district’s message to our children is ‘Hey, we’re not going to pay the people who take care of you,’ so we don’t really care about you,” Armstrong said.

Honey said the civics exercise taught her an important lesson: “If you want a good education, you’re going to fight for it,” she said.

By midafternoon, thousands of red-clad members of UTLA and SEIU local members, swathed in purple, surrounded L.A Unified headquarters. Banging noisemakers and ringing bells, they called on Carvalho to “negotiate.” Some held signs portraying the superintendent as a “Miami Vice”-type character, a reference to his past job as leader of the Miami-Dade school district.

LAUSD employees and supporters picket in font of the LAUSD headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Over the weekend, the district offered Local 99 members a cumulative 23% raise, starting with 2% retroactive as of the 2020-21 school year and ending with 5% in 2024-25. The package would also include a one-time 3% bonus for those who have been on the job since 2020-21, along with expanded hours, more full-time positions and improved eligibility for healthcare benefits.

At Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, Carvalho said district leaders had “incredible respect” for workers and the offer recognized they made “huge sacrifices” for the families they serve. But he said the union wage demands, coupled with raises for other union and nonunion employees, would exceed what the district can afford over the long term. The union argues that the district’s reserves are large enough to afford the pay increases.

Because the wage-negotiation process is still under way, Local 99 called the strike to protest alleged unfair labor practices. Although district officials have either denied wrongdoing or are still reviewing more than a dozen allegations filed with state labor regulators by Local 99, Carvalho has nonetheless pledged an investigation into the claims.

Parents’ mixed feelings

For many parents, the strike stirred mixed feelings. About a dozen parents spoke at Tuesday’s school board meeting, calling for an end to the strike.

“It does impact education,” said Maria Nieto. “I invite the union to please respect the rights of our children, just like I ask for respect for what they are demanding. And I invite you as an executive board to sit down and negotiate as soon as possible to stop all of this.”

Silvia Flores said her son, a sixth-grader at King Middle School in Los Feliz, was an only child who missed his friends and had a hard time coping at home without school. “He became depressed during the pandemic when campuses were closed. And now with the strike, he gets frustrated because he’s not going to school,” Flores said.

Some parents praised their schools for making sure their children would have study materials during the strike, but others said their teachers did not prepare school work. No assignments provided during the strike will count toward a student’s grade, district officials said.

Childcare woes

The shutdown of more than 1,000 schools forced many working parents to scramble for child care. The school district and city and county recreation centers are providing limited openings at more than 200 sites during the strike. By day’s end some 1,353 students attended these programs, below the potential capacity of about 15,000, district officials reported.

Some sites were crowded, including Pan Pacific Park Recreational Center in Fairfax, where volunteers steadily distributed packaged meals throughout the morning.

Others were near-empty and some parents said they had no idea that strike care was available. Nail tech Baasansuren Altanchimeg, 27, said she had to miss work Tuesday to care for her two young children — a hardship for her to lose pay. Other parents said they were taking small children with them to work.

In South L.A.’s Florence-Firestone neighborhood, Cynthia Salazar walked up to Parmelee Avenue Elementary to check her 8-year-old son into the site’s day-care program — one of only three students at the time.

“They closed the schools. For me? It’s a big problem,” said Salazar.

Coordinator Christine Ferreira of United Teachers L.A. said the school had worked hard to let parents know strike care would be available, but had been worried about whether the word had gotten out.

The Rosecrans Recreation Center in Gardena, however, drew about 20 students who took refuge from the rain on Tuesday afternoon. Some young scholars huddled around a laptop; others munched on snacks or quietly played Jenga at a nearby table.

But the center houses an after-school program serving students at the nearby elementary school, King said, “so it’s been an easy transition.”

Many families and officials were also worried about meals the district typically provides to students. Distribution sites were set up throughout the county, and volunteers filled bags with oranges, apples, carrots, cereal, frozen pizza and other items. For many of the district’s families — about 80% of whom are low-income — the meals are essential.

Roxana Tynan, whose daughter attends Eagle Rock, joined strikers Tuesday and said she was aware most parents didn’t have the luxury of a flexible schedule to protest, but thought any short-term pain from closed campuses was worth the long-term gains.

“Of course, we want our kids in school,” she said. But, she added, “we’re going to keep losing teachers and staff like special ed aides, custodians and others if we don’t pay better. This is in the best interests of our children.”

Times staff writers Brittny Mejia, Sonja Sharp, Debbie Truong and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.