LAUSD Strike Sees Hundreds of Schools Close as Teachers Walk Out Over Pay

Hundreds of schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)—the second largest in the country—will be closed on Tuesday as teachers and workers stage a three-day walkout over better wages and staffing levels, among other things.

Schools are expected to remain closed throughout the week, leaving roughly half a million students in California at home until next week.

The strike risks rekindling parents' frustration after they were forced to home-school children during the pandemic. Major walkouts are becoming more common, figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show. There were 23 major work stoppages in 2022, up from 16 in 2021 and eight in 2020, although this is still far lower than in the 1980s. High inflation has spurred workers to seek wage rises.

The latest strike was announced last week by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99, which represents 30,000 people, including cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians and other school staff. The area's powerful teachers' union, United Teachers Los Angeles, said its members will also join the strike in solidarity, adding its 30,000 employees to the walkout.

According to the school workers' union, negotiations for an equitable pay rise and other demands for service workers have been stalling. The strike will go ahead as planned after negotiations failed last week.

On Monday, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho confirmed that schools would be closing the following day, but expressed hope that the two parties could go back to the negotiating table and stop the planned strike from continuing for three days.

Carvalho issued a statement on the same day, saying: "We should not be depriving our students of an opportunity to learn. With hours to go, I continue to appeal to union leadership to return to negotiations. We can find a solution that dignifies our workforce and avoids an unnecessary shutdown of schools while protecting the long-term viability of the school system."

For a moment on Monday it looked like the three-day strike could be averted, as SEIU Local 99 and LAUSD reportedly went back to the negotiating table. But the school workers' union said that the district broke the confidentiality of their talks by going to the media before discussing matters with its bargaining team.

"This afternoon, SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 99 had agreed to enter a confidential mediation process with LAUSD to try and address our differences,'" the union's Executive Director Max Arias said in a statement on Monday afternoon.

"Unfortunately, LAUSD broke that confidentiality by sharing it with the media before our bargaining team, which makes all decisions, had a chance to discuss how to proceed. This is yet another example of the school district's continued disrespect of school workers. We are ready to strike. We want to be clear that we are not in negotiations with LAUSD. We continue to be engaged in the impasse process with the state."

The union is expected to start picketing at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday. On Monday, Arias said in a statement: "Despite LAUSD's misleading statements in the media and threats against workers who are exercising their right to take action, our movement is only growing stronger. Teachers, students and parents in the district are standing with school workers and their right to take action—free from fear—to bargain for better wages and increased staffing in our schools."

Why Are They Striking?

The service workers' union is asking for at least a 30 percent increase in wages, plus a $2 per hour equity wage adjustment starting from July 1. Part-time staff are also demanding to be allowed to work longer hours and to receive health-care benefits as the union seeks to address staff shortages.

The school district has offered a 5 percent wage increase retroactive to July 2021, another 5 percent increase retroactive to July 2022 and a further 5 percent increase effective July 2023. Additionally, it has offered a 4 percent bonus in 2022-23 and a 5 percent bonus in 2023-24. Carvalho called it "one of the strongest offers ever proposed by a Los Angeles Unified superintendent."

LAUSD has recommended parents prepare childcare in view of the three-day strike and has organized grab-and-go meals that could help students with breakfast and lunch for the rest of the week.