Teachers set strike for Thursday

Thousands of Oakland Unified teachers are set to go on strike Thursday, with union officials saying a work stoppage is the “only option” left in their push for the district to raise teacher pay and improve support services.

District officials stressed that the union’s announcement does not mean a strike Thursday is guaranteed. But the district has been scrambling to come up with plans for how a potential strike would affect Oakland’s 37,000 students since members of the teachers union voted to authorize it earlier this month.

Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown made the strike announcement at the union’s headquarters Saturday afternoon while flanked by teachers, parents and students who cheered the plan.

“Bargaining with the district has not — in two years — produced an agreement that will pay teachers enough to allow them to stay in Oakland, or make class sizes more conductive to teaching and learning, or provide our students with the supports they need to thrive,” Brown said. “The only option that Oakland teachers, parents and students have left to win the schools Oakland students truly deserve ... is for the 3,000 members of the Oakland Education Association to go on strike.”

Oakland Unified spokesman John Sasaki said district officials were sad to hear the union’s announcement, but still hope the union will come back to the bargaining table.

“Just because they have set a date doesn’t mean we cannot prevent this,” Sasaki said. “Our board of education, superintendent and district staff want to avoid a strike and we are ready to sit down and negotiate.”