West News Wire: In order to demand higher pay and staffing levels, tens of thousands of educators in the Los Angeles Unified School system, the second-largest school system in the United States, have quit their jobs.
Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly 30,000 teachers’ aides, special education assistants, bus drivers, custodians, and other support personnel, organized demonstrations on Tuesday to kick off the three-day strike.
Early in the morning, workers joined picket lines in the midst of bad weather, some holding posters that said, “We keep schools safe, Respect Us!”
Supportive teachers from the district, which serves more than 500,000 children from Los Angeles, California, as well as all or part of 25 other cities, were there to support them.
“We’re very understaffed,” Danielle Murray, a special education assistant, told local news station KABC-TV. “The custodial staff is a ghost crew, so the schools are dirty. They’re doing the best they can.”
In order to demand higher pay and staffing levels, tens of thousands of educators in the Los Angeles Unified School system, the second-largest school system in the United States, have quit their jobs.
Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents nearly 30,000 teachers’ aides, special education assistants, bus drivers, custodians, and other support personnel, organized demonstrations on Tuesday to kick off the three-day strike.
Early in the morning, workers joined picket lines in the midst of bad weather, some holding posters that said, “We keep schools safe, Respect Us!”
Supportive teachers from the district, which serves more than 500,000 children from Los Angeles, California, as well as all or part of 25 other cities, were there to support them.
The strike is the latest example of increased labour activity in the US, where workers across a variety of sectors have turned to unions with renewed interest as they seek better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
US Congressman Adam Schiff, who is running to represent California in the US Senate, expressed his support for the education workers’ strike, stating that workers “with some of the most important responsibilities in our schools should not have to live in poverty”.
Contract negotiations between the union and the school district have stalled out, and Superintendent Alberto M Carvalho said the union had refused to negotiate and missed out on a “golden opportunity” to make progress.
“I believe this strike could have been avoided. But it cannot be avoided without individuals actually speaking to one another,” he said.
Carvalho said the district has offered workers a wage increase of more than 20 percent over a period of several years, as well as a 3 percent bonus and an increase in healthcare benefits.
Workers are calling for a 30 percent wage increase, and the union said that it was in contact with state authorities over allegations that the district had impeded the right of workers to organise.
The union also has said that workers were often paid little more than minimum wage, making it difficult to attract new people to the profession.
Marlee Ostrow, a 67-year-old instructional aide who said she supports the strike, said that in nearly two decades of work, her wages have increased from $11.75 to $16, not nearly enough in a state known for its high cost of living.
