Congratulations to UTLA and the People of Los Angeles

Start at 15 minutes.

Today we all have more spring in our step because the members of the United Teachers Los Angeles ended their strike yesterday and ratified their new contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

It’s a good day for public education—a paradigm shift, thanks to UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl, the other UTLA officers, the bargaining committee and UTLA members.

One contract can’t change decades of disinvestment, but this agreement reorders priorities. It makes a clear commitment to invest in L.A.’s neighborhood public schools and to provide the resources and conditions necessary for teachers to teach and for kids to learn.

The agreement provides:

• Lower class sizes—immediately in 2019-20, with more improvements every year after. 
• A nurse in every school five days a week, and a teacher librarian in every secondary school five days a week. 
• Investment in community schools. 
• A pathway to charter moratoriums and/or caps. 
• A 6 percent pay raise with no contingencies. 
• Hard caps on special education caseloads and release time for testing.

I am so proud of the hard work, dedication and courage of UTLA members and their leaders. They made this victory possible. And their commitment to Los Angeles’ parents and students resulted in unprecedented support from the broader L.A. community. More than 80 percent of people in Los Angeles supported the strike.

At its heart, the L.A. strike — like those last year in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona and elsewhere — was about confronting years of disinvestment and scarcity in education, and prioritizing public education as an opportunity agent for all children.

Solidarity With Striking Teachers - Sanders

Today, for the first time in 30 years, more than 30,000 Los Angeles public school teachers are on strike fighting for smaller class sizes and decent wages, for nurses, counselors and librarians in their schools, and against a coordinated effort from billionaires on the right to make money privatizing public education.

Public education is fundamental to any functioning democracy, and teaching is one of its most valuable and indispensable professions.

So how is it that the top 25 hedge fund managers in this country make more money than the combined salaries of every kindergarten teacher?

How is it that the billionaires of this country get huge tax breaks, but our teachers and children get broken chairs, flooded classrooms and inadequate support staff in their schools?

That is what a rigged economy looks like.

In the richest country in the history of the world, our teachers should be the best-paid in the developed world, not among the worst-paid.

So I stand in solidarity with the United Teachers of Los Angeles. Because a nation that does not educate its children properly will fail, and I applaud these teachers for leading this country in the fight to change our national priorities. Today, I am asking you to do the same:

Add Your Name: Tell the striking teachers in Los Angeles that you are following their struggle and stand in solidarity with them. We will make sure your messages of support get to these teachers.

But what we really need in this country is a revolution in public education.

What Would End the LA Strike ?

My colleague Jennifer Medina talked to Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles, just before Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that negotiations between the union and the district would resume today.  NY Times.

A meeting is scheduled for noon at City Hall, with the mayor’s staff serving as a mediator between the two groups.

Mr. Caputo-Pearl, said that neither he, Mr. Beutner nor the mayor would be at the table for the negotiations. “We’re going to let our teams dig into it and then we’ll be involved soon enough,” he said late last night. He did not make any predictions about when the strike would end.

“We’re going to continue to strengthen our picket lines, which have been growing with the support from our community and parents,” he added. “We’re going to pursue both tracks, both picketing and bargaining at the same time.”

The interview has been condensed and lightly edited.

Jennifer Medina: How long do you expect the strike to last? What would end it?

Alex Caputo-Pearl: In the bigger picture we need to see a real commitment to reinvesting in neighborhood public schools. We need to see that there is willingness to substantially invest in that, to use the $140 million from the governor. We need to see that there is really reinvestment in class size reduction, staffing issues, counselors. We want to see some regulation on the charter industry, so that it does not just keep growing without limits. We need to know they have some basic rules of engagement and accountability. Those are some of the key issues.

You’ve talked about making the picket lines even stronger to make the attention to Los Angeles public schools really make a difference. What do you want the wider public — particularly those without a connection to the schools here — to understand?

Los Angeles Teacher _ The Strike

My name is Mark Campbell. As a UTLA public high school English teacher and DSA-LA member, I appeal to you to consider giving a donation to the Reclaim Our Schools UTLA Strike Fund.

My brothers and sisters, the 31,000 UTLA teachers who will strike, do so at great risk of their personal and professional well-being. There is every indication the Los Angeles Unified School District will make every attempt to prolong the strike in an attempt to weaken the union’s attempt to improve the school and classroom environment for the over 600,000 students who attend classes in the district’s schools.

Although 98% of us authorized this strike and are prepared to go the long haul to guarantee its success, a strike of this magnitude brings along with it a number of challenges. Teachers will be on the picket line each and every day without pay for the duration of the strike.

Like too many of us are all too familiar with, my comrades live paycheck-to-paycheck, have pressing healthcare issues, and children of their own, also students in LAUSD public schools.  Any amount you can contribute will help in any of a number of ways to alleviate some of the stress teachers will inevitably encounter. Thank you for supporting UTLA teachers and this crucial moment in the history of public education.

Los Angeles Teachers Strike Approaches

The Los Angeles school district has $2 billion in reserves, but it’s not willing to use the money to create the conditions educators need to help students succeed. Educators in L.A. have been bargaining for 20 months, fighting not just for fair salaries but for every child in the city to have a safe and welcoming place for learning, and against the austerity measures for public schools the district’s superintendent continues to promote. The members of United Teachers Los Angeles are fighting for issues that, sadly, are too familiar: adequate funding for public schools, full-time counselors and nurses in every school, smaller class size, fair compensation and community schools. And the boss? Superintendent Austin Beutner is intent on dismantling the school district and prioritizing charters, which syphon off $600 million a year. What he doesn’t prioritize—20 months after the contract expired—is neighborhood schools or a fair agreement with the district’s educators.

The Schools We Deserve - Los Angeles

UTLA rally draws thousands in call for 'the schools LA students deserve'

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February 26, 2015—Today thousands of educators from across Los Angeles jammed Grand Park today in a rally for "the Schools LA Students Deserve." They arrived by rail, bus, car and on foot—wearing UTLA red to send a loud message to LAUSD that Los Angeles teachers will not stop fighting for smaller class sizes, fully staffed schools, clean and safe schools, and fair compensation. UTLA was joined in the rally by students, parents and community groups and supported by its affiliates CFT, CTA, AFT and NEA.

Last week, UTLA declared an impasse in negotiations with the District after LAUSD failed to bring meaningful proposals to the table on the key demands for the Schools LA Students Deserve. UTLA says it will continue to organize and hold actions until the Superintendent starts to listen.

Progressives take control of UTLA Teachers Union

For seven years, the 31,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles, the largest local on the West Coast, have gone without a salary increase. Their contract has been expired for nearly three of those. And the teachers, counselors and school nurses that make up the UTLA can still be sent to so-called “teacher jail”—housed in district offices until they’re either fired or restored to their position, a process that can take months—when they’re accused of misconduct .

All of this, activists say, has left United Teachers Los Angeles disengaged and disillusioned. This was evidenced by the low turnout for the union election in late April, in which only 7,235 members—fewer than 25 percent of the UTLA—participated.

The results of that election, however, are perhaps an even greater indication that the UTLA is ready for a change. On April 29, social studies teacher and longtime union activist Alex Caputo-Pearl was elected as president of UTLA following a run-off with incumbent Warren Fletcher.