Teacher’s Strike in the US Affects 500,000 Students

More than 30,000 public school teachers in the United States have stopped working to press for their demands for better pay, smaller class sizes and more educators. The strike in Los Angeles, which is first in 30 years, is affecting more than 500,000 students in the country’s second-largest school district, efforts of negotiations have failed in the past weeks.

Teaching unions across the country are closely watching the developments, which are engaged in labor negotiations and also considering strikes. In a news conference recently, Alex Caputo-Pearl, the head of the United Teachers Los Angeles union has said, “Here we are on a rainy day in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the country, in a state that's blue (Democrat) as it can be -- and in a city rife with millionaires -- where teachers have to go on strike to get the basics for our students. Here we are in a fight for the soul of public education”.

Caputo-Pearl also added, “The question is: do we starve our public neighborhood schools so that they (become) privatized, or do we re-invest in our public neighborhood schools for our students and for a thriving city?”

The teacher’s union and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has however agreed on some points such as class sizes some at more than 40 must shrink, the salary of teachers must improve and more support staff are to be employed.

By this agreement, school district officials are hopeful that their effort to avert a strike and negotiate with the union won’t go waste, but also acknowledged that they simply don’t have enough money to meet all of the demands made by the union. As recently a revised offer submitted by the unions, which called for roughly $24 million more in funding and 1,200 more teachers for the upcoming school year was rejected.

Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Austin Beutner said his office had reached out to the governor’s and mayor’s office to see if they could help break a deal. As the teachers' demands are going to cost them about $3 billion and push district into insolvency.

He said, “We remain committed to resolve the contract negotiations as soon as possible," Beutner told reporters. "We urge (the union) to resume bargaining with us anytime, anywhere, 24-7. We'd like to resolve this”.

Last year a strike by teachers in the state of West Virginia over low wages and rising health care costs had set off a wave of similar action in several other states and garnered strong public support. The recent strike in Los Angeles could have a similar effect.

Striking teachers wave is spreading, in Denver, Colorado, for example, the teachers union has threatened to strike unless an agreement can be reached by the end of this week on the condition of salary increase. Meanwhile, teachers unions across the country have offered support to those, who are striking in Los Angeles, with many educators and parents wearing red T-shirts in solidarity with them.