Teachers union agrees to contract
UTLA OKs tentative pact for 21% raise, smaller classes and more mental health services on campuses
The Los Angeles Unified School District and the union representing its teachers announced Tuesday they have reached a tentative labor agreement that includes a 21% salary increase, a reduction of two students in K-12 academic classes and more mental health services.
“With this tentative agreement, LAUSD now has an opportunity to become one of the most successful school districts in the country,” United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement. “We held the line during bargaining on a number of initiatives because educators are the experts on what has the ability to transform LAUSD into a more equitable environment that not only improves students' learning, but also the quality of life for L.A. families.”
The district issued a statement saying that the pay raises in this deal address “years of pay inequity and inflation” that affected teachers, while the smaller class sizes and increased mental health services will greatly benefit students.
“This agreement with UTLA is a necessary step not only to make Los Angeles Unified the district of choice for families but also the district of choice for teachers and employees,” Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a statement. “I am grateful that we reached an agreement with UTLA in a manner that reflects the dedicated work of our employees, provides a better academic experience for our students and raises the standards of compensation in Los Angeles and across the country.”
The tentative contract, covering 2022-25, must be ratified by UTLA members and the LAUSD Board of Education.
The 21% pay raise for teachers will be implemented over time beginning with a roughly 7% retroactive pay raise that will be
followed by alternating 3% and 4% raises every January and July until Jan. 1, 2025.
The agreement also includes additional pay bumps for nurses, counselors and specialized teachers, all positions that the district has struggled to find enough employees to staff. This includes an ongoing salary $20,000 increase for nurses; a $3,000 increase for school psychologists and psychiatric social workers; $2,500 for special education teachers; and $1,500 for early education teachers.
The agreement includes a promise to allocate to individual campuses more mental health-focused staff such as psychiatric social workers, attendance counselors, academic counselors and school psychologists.
“The agreement seems to be responsive to some of the challenges that schools in Los Angeles and frankly across the country, have been experiencing as we come out of the pandemic,” said John Rogers, professor at UCLA's Graduate School of Education. “The heightened stress and trauma that many young people have experienced calls for more access
to psychologists and social workers and counselors.”
Rogers said that smaller class sizes help students receive more attention, which is helpful both for young people who fell behind during the pandemic and those facing mental health challenges. While teacher pay raises may appear disconnected from student needs, Rogers believes students will benefit from the district's ability to better retain staff and ensure continuity of instruction.
At the district's board meeting Tuesday, board members celebrated the new agreement, which was reached early Tuesday morning.
In the same meeting, members voted unanimously to approve the labor deal reached late last month with the Service Employees International Union Local 99, which represents service workers. That contract includes a roughly 30% salary increase for custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, special education assistants and others.
The SEIU union staged a three-day strike in late March and the UTLA workers walked out in solidarity, shutting down district classrooms and schools. Reaching the agreement with UTLA eliminates the
possibility of another potential work stoppage.
“I'm excited and cautiously optimistic about the agreement being reached and not having to dive into further, more serious actions,” said Marisa Crabtree, an English teacher and UTLA chapter chair at Lincoln High School. “In union leadership we were discussing whether there will have to be a second strike or some kind of strong work action. There is a lot of relief that there won't be.”
Rogers said that the collective power demonstrated by UTLA and SEIU during the strike meant that teachers union leaders were negotiating with a “particularly strong hand” when they hammered out their own agreement with the district.
It took a three-day strike for the district to meet SEIU Local 99's pay demands. However, district leaders agreed to teachers' pay demands without strike proceedings being instigated.
“I think it's a positive sign that the district wanted to come to agreement and didn't want to initiate an all-out battle,” Rogers said. “Both of those facts seem, to me, as helpful for the future, because strikes can undermine trust and understanding. If parties can come together without
a strike, everybody is better served.”
The district has agreed to a 30% raise for SEIU members and a 21% raise for teachers over the next few years, which represents a significant increase in expenses.
Fortunately, the district is currently in a strong financial position with an estimated $5 billion sitting in reserves. However, with student enrollment continuing to decline year after year and with a potential recession on the horizon, the long-term viability of the district's finances is less certain.
Pedro Noguera, dean of USC Rossier School of Education, said he isn't particularly concerned about the district's finances as he believes leaders would not have agreed to deals that they cannot afford.
“But it does raise the question, if you had the money, why didn't you negotiate these things sooner?” Noguera said. “It's a question that I think we all need to look at because these disruptions are really harmful to kids, to schools, so we have got to avoid them in the future.”
Noguera hopes that the settling of the two labor contracts allows everyone to refocus on students' needs.
“We need to acknowledge how hard many kids were traumatized by the effects of the pandemic, and we need to be much more concerned about the welfare and education of kids,” he said. “I think all the adult parties need to make sure that they commit themselves to really prioritizing the needs of kids.”
In the near-term future, peace between the district and its unions is threatened by two ongoing disagreements.
First, UTLA leaders remain upset over the new school day calendars, which they allege were approved without proper labor negotiations earlier this month.
“We are calling on the school board to immediately rescind the unilateral change in violation of state labor law to the school year calendar,” said Mario Valenzuela, UTLA director of political action and community organizing, at Tuesday's board meeting. “As a rule of thumb, any policy or practice changes that impacts the wages, hours or working conditions of our members is legally negotiable.”
Second, the district is continuing to pursue its unfair labor practice charge against SEIU Local 99 alleging that the three-day strike in March was unlawful.
SEIU leaders dispute this, while Ellen Wu, an attorney representing the district, has said it's important to have a ruling on the case to set a precedent for future labor negotiations.
Noguera is not too worried about these skirmishes.
“It seems to me like they are small issues and I think the big issues were money — and they resolved them,” he said. “Teachers deserved the raise as did the services workers, so that's a huge win and I hope other districts around the state, and in places like San Francisco and Oakland, are able to do something similar.”
Rogers believes the impressive gains won by UTLA will serve as an inspiration and roadmap for teachers in other districts.
“I think it signals the strength of this teachers' union today and communicates the importance of forging these sorts of alliances with other educational workers,” said Rogers, referencing the alliance formed between UTLA and SEIU. “It is probably signaling to other teachers' unions in the region that they may want to try to push for substantial raises and increased support for students as well.”
City News Service contributed to this report.