Mark Friedman, Member International Association of Machinists 1484, RLNews contributor
- Workers cite LAUSD’s $5.03 billion in reserves, while five union contracts have already expired after eight months of bargaining.
- Demands include more counselors, smaller class sizes, and fair pay raises, rejecting austerity measures despite large district reserves.
Thousands of educators, principals, food service workers, custodians, teaching assistants, administrators, school safety officers, construction crews, and other education employees from eight unions rallied across five sites citywide with a unified message for LAUSD: stop hoarding funds and invest in schools and the workers who keep them running. More than a thousand people joined the rally and marched outside Wilmington’s Harry Bridges Span School.
“Educators have been at the bargaining table with the district for more than eight months. We are calling for concrete support for immigrant families; more counselors, psychologists, and psychiatric social workers, and other critical support our schools urgently need,” said Esmeralda Gonzalez, LAUSD educator and parent. “For eight months, most of LAUSD’s answers to our solutions are NO! It’s clear they don’t feel the urgency we and our families feel.”
Teamsters Local 572 has been waiting 18 months for a contract. All speakers complained of the extra work load while reducing school services and offering a measly 2% pay raise per year.
Speakers in Wilmington denounced LAUSD’s proposal to pass on future healthcare cost increases to employees — a move workers say amounts to a pay cut and breaks decades of trust. Despite uncertainty about their own healthcare and pay.
LAUSD has proposed freezing its health-care funding contribution at its 2026 level, under a two-year deal ending in 2027.
The freeze would apply even though health-care costs are continuing to rise, which unions say translates into a funding shortfall of about 7% by 2027 and about13% by 2028.
LA Unified’s offer also includes the introduction of a new high-deductible health plan beginning in 2026.
In parallel, the district’s broader economic proposal includes a 2% raise in year one, 2% in year two, and a wage re-opener in year three with no guarantee of increase. The health-care funding freeze means that even the 2% raise could be offset by higher healthcare costs borne by employees.
The president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA), Maria Nichols, told demonstrators: We reject a system where a few at the top are making close to and over $300,000 while our schools are underfunded, families are struggling and our communities are under attack.
“Students are living through times of fear and uncertainty. Those who teach and support our students are struggling. More than ever – we need fully funded, fully staffed, schools,” said Max Arias, Executive Director of SEIU Local 99 reported a UTLA press release.
Mariyah Williams spoke for Students Deserve, a youth-led, multi-racial grassroots organization based in LA Unified, a group fighting to rid police from schools, expand student services, prevent ICE from coming onto campus, and expressed strong solidarity with teachers. Teachers and students have rallied to free students detained by ICE.
“I’m a senior at San Pedro High School and a proud leader in Students Deserve. I’m here today standing with UTLA teachers, SEIU Local 99, and all of our partners across Los Angeles because our fight is one and the same–we’re fighting for dignity, for justice, and for the future of public education.
Right now, public education is under attack by billionaires and politicians who want to privatize our schools and silence our voices. And while they’re doing that, they’re not even prioritizing us! We need to remind ourselves they work for us! Not the other way around.
This fight isn’t only on wages or contracts–it’s about what kind of world we want to build.
A world where teachers are valued, where students are protected, and where education is liberation, not oppression. When Students Deserve fought to remove school police and bring in mental health resources instead–our teachers stood with us.
When we demanded that LAUSD invest in Black students and end racist disciplinary policies–our teachers stood with us.”