Officials said a three-day strike by service workers working in the country’s second-largest public school district was underway on Tuesday.
The demonstration started from the bus yard. Activists hold placards that read, “We keep schools safe, respect us!” Joined the picket line in the rain to demand better pay and additional staff.
District Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said at a news conference Monday evening that all Los Angeles Unified School District schools would be closed Tuesday. LAUSD has an enrollment of approximately 430,000 K-12 students, according to its district data website.
Service Employees International Union Local 99 – which represents cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, and special education aides – said its members were striking because negotiations that would provide a solution did not exist. The union represents more than 30,000 district workers.
“We are on strike to protest the disrespect towards workers who speak up for more staffing for student services. We are on strike to protest threats against workers who speak up for a better livelihood. We are on strike because our Close enough,” Conrado Guerrero, a school district building engineer, and SEIU Local 99 president, said during a news conference Tuesday.
“We refuse to be invisible. We refuse to be silent. … United we will win,” he said.
The United Teachers Los Angeles, which says it represents about 35,000 teachers, joined the solidarity strike.
“The public schools and respect we deserve are within reach,” UTLA tweeted Tuesday. “It will be our collective action and solidarity that makes our vision for a better future in the present into a reality. Rain or shine, see you on the picket line!”
Local 99 blamed the failure of the day’s negotiations on the district. Its executive director, Max Arias, said district officials broke an agreement to conduct confidential mediation on a possible contract, ending progress.
Arias said Local 99 was not negotiating with the district Monday night, but was instead seeking a solution through a state-run process that seeks to unlock the impasse.
“We were never in the same room or in the same building,” Carvalho said Monday of the failed talks. “Today we had a golden opportunity that just didn’t happen.”
Local 99 indicated last week that the district has a long way to go in demanding higher wages. It has said its members earn an average salary of $25,000 a year, more than $10,000 below the state poverty line for a family of four.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said these are “poverty wages.”
“Who can live on $25,000 a year?” he said at Tuesday’s news conference. “We ask LA Unified to make our voices heard. Hear our voices, pay our allies a livable wage, and help them earn a decent income.”
In a statement Thursday, SEIU Local 99 spokeswoman Blanca Gallegos said union workers are targeting a 30% pay increase. The members authorized a strike in February.
Carvalho said the district has offered a 3% bonus as well as a total pay increase of more than 20% over a multi-year period, The Associated Press reported.
Carvalho said in a statement Tuesday that the district is ready to negotiate with Local 99.
“I understand that the frustration of our employees has been brewing for not just a few years, but perhaps decades. And it is on the basis of recognizing historical inequities that we have introduced a historic resolution,” he said. “This proposal addresses the needs and concerns of the union while remaining fiscally responsible and keeping the district in an economically stable position.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Sunday that the city would pitch in during the strike to help distribute student lunches at 21 “grab and go” locations. The Los Angeles Zoo said admission will be free for LAUSD students at the end of the three-day action.