The Los Angeles Unified School District reached a tentative agreement with the union representing 30,000 essential school workers, averting a planned strike Tuesday that would have shut down campuses in the nation’s second-largest public school system.
Hours after the agreement was reached, LAUSD officials and labor representatives held a joint news conference alongside Mayor Karen Bass at City Hall Tuesday to discuss the deal. Bass helped facilitate negotiations between the parties.
“It has been a long night and it’s been a long few weeks of negotiations, but our schools are open,” Bass said.
While the city has no direct authority over the district, Bass said she intervened to prevent disruptions for students and families.
Acting Superintendent Andrés Chait thanked Bass, labor partners and the community, particularly parents. He has been overseeing the district following the departure of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho amid a federal investigation.
“I never believed in an adversarial role or relationship between a district and its workforce. It just doesn’t make sense,” Chait said.
He described the agreements as ones that “honor” the work they do.
“I believe in Los Angeles Unified, but I know that we can only achieve our best outcomes when they are truly unified,” Chait added.
The tentative accord with SEIU Local 99 — representing bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and special education assistants — was announced shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday, just hours before the strike deadline.
The district reached tentative agreements with its teachers and administrators unions on Sunday, but a joint solidarity pact among the three unions meant a strike remained possible if talks with SEIU Local 99 failed.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement in principle with SEIU Local 99 that will allow schools to be open today,” the LAUSD said on its website early Tuesday. “LAUSD and SEIU teams will continue to work together to finalize the details of a tentative agreement.”
According to SEIU Local 99, highlights of the deal include:
— A 24% wage increase that the union said will significantly improve workers’ livelihoods;
— Increased work hours to ensure health care benefits for thousands of employees and their families, while expanding support for students;
— Rescinding layoffs of hundreds of IT technicians;
— Expanded health care benefits for teacher assistants, after-school workers and community representatives; and
— A commitment to avoid subcontracting to outside vendors, with a pathway to bring more work in-house.
“This agreement was won through the bold action and courage of thousands of workers who were willing to sacrifice to improve conditions in their schools and their lives,” SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias said. “A strike was always the last resort, and we are proud that we could work with the school district and Mayor Karen Bass to reach an agreement that recognizes the contributions of front line workers in our schools.”
SEIU Local 99 members still must vote to ratify the agreement.
Associated Administrators Los Angeles represents roughly 3,000 administrators, while United Teachers Los Angeles represents about 35,000 educators.
“We are proud to have reached resolution with all of our labor partners — UTLA, SEIU, and AALA Teamsters Local 2010 — ensuring stability for our schools and continuity for the students and families we serve,” Chait said.
“Our commitments reflect the dedication of our entire workforce. We are grateful for the collaboration that made this possible and hopeful that this marks a new chapter of partnership. At the same time, we are clear-eyed about the challenges ahead and know that meeting them will require continued trust, shared responsibility, and a united focus on what matters most — our students.”
The district said earlier that the deal with Associated Administrators Los Angeles/Teamsters 2010 increases its members’ salary by 11.65% over two years with a re-opener for year three.
The full membership of AALA and UTLA still need to vote to approve the contracts.
According to the teachers union, among the terms of the proposed deal is an increase in starting teacher pay from $68,966 to $77,000, along with a “significant pay increase and restructuring of LAUSD’s outdated salary table point system to help recruit new educators and retain veteran teachers amid a growing teacher shortage.”
A later Instagram post noted the agreement also includes a flexible work day, smaller class sizes and student support staffing.
“This success comes after 11 months at the bargaining table and an 8-month democratic process in which UTLA members and the community identified priorities and spent a year of intense collective action to force LAUSD to agree to (these) tentative proposals,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said.
The teachers union, along with SEIU Local 99 and AALA, combined represent nearly 70,000 LAUSD employees.
The LAUSD serves roughly 400,000 students daily, providing education, meals and child care.