Strikes in California schools

More than half a million Los Angeles schoolchildren are unable to get to class for a second day because of a strike by school employees. There are just over a thousand schools in the district, one of the largest in the country. The strikers’ main demand is for higher wages.

The teachers’ union and the school district have yet to reach an agreement. The strikers staged a rally of thousands outside the school district’s main office. Among those who came out to protest was Jennifer Torres – she’s been a teaching assistant at an elementary school for 20 years. She says the strike was not an easy decision for her personally.

“We don’t want to go on strike, we don’t want to close schools because it would all affect the kids. And that decision was as difficult as living in poverty. Living from paycheck to paycheck,” Jennifer says.

Los Angeles school district employees, namely bus drivers, security guards, teacher assistants, cafeteria workers, more than 30,000 people, are demanding a 30 percent pay increase, and more hours.

“It’s very hard to live on that wage, if I tell you how much I make, you’ll laugh. How do I pay my rent, how do I help my kids on that kind of money,” says a teacher’s aide at a junior high school, Luz Variela.

She has worked with children for 25 years, she said, and in order to survive in one of the most expensive cities in the world, she has to constantly look for extra income. It is because of low wages, the teachers’ union believes, that young people are less and less likely to choose the teaching profession.

“Workers in the school system make about $25,000 a year, which is negligible. Some employees have to pay 85% of their $2,000 salary just for housing, and what’s left over? And when you have a family? How do you feed it?” – says Cecilia Maya Cruz, president of the teachers’ union. She says the school district has rejected the demand for higher wages, offering its own terms. Negotiations have been going on for months. They reached an impasse the day before.

“The district superintendent knows exactly how to negotiate, he has hammered out a 26% raise for himself, his salary per year is $440,000, more than the salary of the president of the United States! And for us, he says the district can’t give more money,” said Cecilia Cruz, president of the Los Angeles teachers union.

But the head of the school district, Alberto Carvalho, says union representatives won’t even listen to him. And they won’t come to the negotiations.

“I was hoping that I could come out today and give you other news that there wouldn’t be a strike. But unfortunately, there isn’t. We’ve been engaged in the negotiation process all this time. But we couldn’t even get together with the unions in the same room, at the same table, to solve these problems,” Carvalho said.

Teachers also came out in support of school workers – about 30,000 teachers also demand a 20 percent pay raise.

“Without all these people, our students wouldn’t be able to learn, without the assistants, cooks, drivers, there would be nothing, they deserve a decent salary,” said teacher Victoria Montes.

A total of 65,000 school system workers are on strike. For the duration of the strike, Los Angeles authorities have opened points in 30 parks in the city where volunteers can watch the children of working parents.

“I support the strike on the one hand, but on the other my daughter is without school today. People depend on schools, even for food,” Lorena says. She came to get the food her children received at school every day. In the city’s schools, students can eat for free. For some families, this food program is a big help. To keep it from depriving parents and children, Los Angeles officials have set up locations where food bags for children are available for all days of the strike.

In 2019, L.A. school workers also went on strike, then demanding fewer students in classrooms, health care workers for each school, and higher wages. That strike lasted six days, but schools continued to operate then. The current strike is scheduled to last three days, but school employees say that if the district does not make concessions, they will continue to strike.

You may be interested: FED raises interest rate by 0.25% amid global banking turmoil