The Los Angeles Unified School District and the Service Employees International Union continued contract negotiations well into Monday night, hoping to avoid a strike on Tuesday.
LAUSD said it would notify families by 6 a.m. on Tuesday if schools will be open.
“If the strike goes forward, Los Angeles Unified schools will be closed to students. This includes Early Education centers,” LAUSD wrote on its website.
On Monday, a rally was held outside the Roybal Learning Center in downtown LA in support of SEIU, which represents about 30,000 aides, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers.
After striking a tentative deal with the teachers’ and administrators’ unions on Sunday, LAUSD must reach an agreement with SEIU to avoid a strike on April 14.
Santos Robles, who is on the union’s negotiation team, said the two sides have been arguing over a pay increase, but more importantly, more hours of part-time workers so they can qualify for health benefits.
“We have members that work two hours,” Robles said. “You can’t make a living there.”
He added that special education assistants often do physically demanding work that doesn’t show up on their timesheets, such as feeding and diaper changes.
Sunday’s deals with the United Teachers of Los Angeles and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles do not rule out a strike on Tuesday, April 14, but the district believes that schools can operate as scheduled.
UTLA said it will strike on Tuesday in solidarity with those unions if an agreement isn’t reached.
UTLA’s membership and the school board must still vote on the tentative deal with LAUSD. The union said the two-year contract raises members’ salary scales by 11.65% and sets the starting teacher salary at $77,000 per year.
It also outlines:
- An average salary increase for member teachers of 13.86%
- Paid parental leave
- An additional 450 positions for school psychologists, counselors and other emotional support staff
- Penalty pay for educators due to special education class size violations
- Protections against artificial intelligence
- Contractual support for immigrant students and families
- Healthcare for substitute teachers after 93 days worked rather than 100
The Associated Administrators of Los Angeles said that their deal would increase members’ salaries by 11.65% over two years, with a reopener in year three. It also must be ratified by membership.
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