Los Angeles schools avoided a strike that would have impacted nearly 400,000 students in Southern California as the school district and the union representing support staff reached a tentative deal early Tuesday.
“Nobody wants a strike,” Andrés Chait, interim superintendent of LAUSD, said in March. “Strikes are not good for students. They are not good for our schools. They are not good for our families. I truly believe that our labor partners also do not want a strike.”
The interim superintendent expressed pride in having reached a resolution with all labor partners, ensuring “the stability of our schools and continuity for students and families.”
The negotiations yielded excellent results for the workers:
Teachers (UTLA): They obtained an 11.65% salary increase over two years, raising the starting salary to $77,000 annually.
Support Staff (SEIU Local 99): Achieved a 24% increase over the contract period and the cancellation of planned layoffs for IT workers.
Administrators (AALA): They agreed to an increase of 11.65% in two years.
Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union announced on social media that it won a tentative agreement with “major gains” including raises and more hours. The district announced that an agreement in principle had been reached with SEIU Local 99 allowing schools to be open Tuesday and they would work to finalize the details of a tentative agreement.
SEIU Local 99 said the tentative deal also included protections against subcontracting, stopped IT layoffs and increased staffing. SEIU Local 99 told members to report to work as usual on Tuesday and thanked their fellow unions and the Los Angeles community, saying the “victory belongs to ALL of us.”
Teachers, principals and staff had been prepared to walk out for a strike if the deal was not reached. Unions representing teachers and principals reached tentative contract agreements with the nation’s second-largest school district over the weekend.
All three unions that represent about 70,000 workers across the Los Angeles Unified School District had pledged to go on strike if any of the three did not reach a tentative agreement.
The three unions have never gone on strike at the same time — administrators have remained on duty during previous teacher walkouts to help keep schools open. That was the case in 2023 when Local 99 workers went on strike and teachers joined them for three days. About 150 of the district’s 1,000 schools remained open.
