By Mark Friedman, Reporter and Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Unity and solidarity prevailed. The decision by the UTLA to support striking Local 99 of SEIU workers throughout LAUSD is inescapable proof that solidarity works.
The three-day Unity strike was marked by 7-10 a.m. picketing at hundreds of schools, multi-school mobilizations at five LAUSD district offices, and two massive downtown mobilizations.
The strike won the following:
- A 30% wage increase for LAUSD staff represented by the union, amounting to an increase of the average annual salary from $25,000 to $33,000k
- A minimum wage of $22.52 an hour signing bonuses and retroactive pay
- Health insurance for more members, including family coverage
- More hours for support staff who serve students with special needs
While teachers, school support staff, and labor enjoy this victory lap, there has been grumbling in certain quarters about the cost to student learning as they try to catch up to pre-pandemic levels academically. SEIU Local 99 communication’s director, Blanca Gallegos noted that nearly half the members of Local 99 are parents of school-aged children and that the Local made the decision to strike with the understanding that short-term sacrifices had to be made.
Gallegos also noted the dire staffing shortage at LAUSD.
“I think that those who work there know more than anyone else and understand what that means in terms of bathrooms being locked because there are not enough custodians to clean them,” Gallegos said. “Lunch lines are extremely long, causing students to have to rush to their meals because there’s not enough staff. Special education students are not having enough support in the classroom. So, all of these issues, I’m sure were present in workers’ minds as they moved to go on strike. For the union, going on strike was a tool of very last resort.”
San Pedro High School teacher Mrs. Rodriguez saw the sacrifices as worth it.
“My husband is also a teacher. So we’re both losing three days of pay, that’s six days of no pay. I believe in the cause. We both do. That’s why we’re here.”
The union negotiated for a year with the school district not budging on any of their priorities, Gallegos explained. She said workers were left with no other choice.
“That this was really what it took for the district to come back to the table and address issues of respect and also issues that were in negotiation,” Gallegos said.
Much had been said about the relative silence of school board members in this labor fight. However, Gallegos expressed appreciation for the social media posts by school board president Kelly Gonez and Rocio Rivas and the outspoken efforts of school board member Jackie Goldberg in the media.
“But outside of that, we didn’t see too much from board members,” Gallegos said.
Throughout the three-day strike, picketers have called this labor action a fight for respect. Some have described being treated as heroes after continuing to keep schools clean and serve students through the pandemic to being treated as “the help.”
Local 99 has filed nearly a dozen complaints with the Public Employment Relations Board charging the school district with surveilling union members, interfering with members’ ability to participate in union activities, and retaliating against union members among other charges. And there’s nearly a dozen more that are pending to be filed.
“It has been a year, and throughout the process, we hope that this turned a new page,” Gallegos said, adding that he understands that those frontline workers are part of the school community and that they have a voice. They need to be respected and valued for the contributions they have made to student learning.
This reporter was on the picket lines at San Pedro and Banning HS, Harry Bridges middle school, the mobilizations at the Gardena LAUSD offices, and downtown rallies. What was evident was the unity and strength of all the workers, parents, and students. In the Los Angeles Harbor, the International Longshore and Warehouseman’s Union (ILWU) members joined the picket line, adding strength to the SEIU labor actions.
One SEIU Local 99 member on the picket line at San Pedro High School, Ms. Perez, was thrilled with the solidarity shown during the strike.
“I think that the teachers are there to back us up. They are a strong union,” Perez said. “They’re all about solidarity. I am retiring soon. So hopefully people in the future will have better wages, better treatment, and I’m just hoping they Sign that contract quickly so I can get a piece of that pie.
Gallegos said Local 99 will be putting the contract to vote next week with the results returned by April 8.
This strike represented another advance for organized labor in LA coming out of the 2019 UTLA strike that won significant demands, though not all of them. There are still problems with overcrowded classrooms and a lack of nurses at all schools. And there is the ongoing issue of making school curricula more relevant to the students’ history, especially around the campaign to include the issue of Palestine in ethnic studies.
Tens of thousands of students, led by Students Deserve, are continuing to fight against cops on campus, a positive outcome of the national and local protests against police killings of Black and Brown youth especially.
School districts nationally face the same issue of a tremendous disparity between teaching staff and support staff that in LA, for example, is 84% Black and Latinx. This victory should help advance other strikes nationally of these lowest paid, starvation wage slaves, hopefully with the same unity and solidarity demonstrated by UTLA.