L.A. Schools Remain Closed As Strike Enters Second Day

By Carolyn Jones And Kate Sequeira, EdSource

March 22, 2023

The strike that shut down California’s largest school district on Tuesday remains in effect on Wednesday, as bus drivers, custodians and other essential workers in Los Angeles Unified continued their protest over low wages while negotiations with the district stayed at a standstill.

Members of Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union – along with teachers, who joined the strike in support – marched, chanted and picketed at schools across Los Angeles to draw attention to their demands.

“Show us the money,” Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of the teachers union, said at a rally downtown Tuesday near the district headquarters. “We are tired of you coming to our schools for a phony photo-op when our schools are not clean because you don’t staff our schools.”

The strike means that classes are canceled for roughly 420,000 students, leaving families to scramble for child care. The district is providing dozens of child care centers but on Tuesday, many parents appeared to keep their children home, sometimes opting to take time off from work, possibly due to the heavy rain.

The district also distributed thousands of meals on Tuesday to students and families who rely on schools for food and other services. More than 75% of the district’s students live in poverty, and schools play a vital role in their health and social-emotional well-being, as well as their academic development, Superintendent Alberto Carvalho tweeted Tuesday morning.

“We remain ready to return to negotiations with SEIU Local 99 so we can provide an equitable contract to our hardworking employees and get our students back in classrooms,” he wrote.

SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias speaks at a news conference Tuesday morning.The union, whose members earn a median salary of $25,000 annually, is asking for a 30% raise plus an additional $2 per hour for lower-paid workers. The district offered a 23% raise plus a one-time 3% bonus for workers who were hired before 2020-21.

Local 99 executive director Max Arias said at a morning press conference that he was frustrated at the district’s claim that it could not afford raises for union members, some of whom are among the lowest paid in the district.

“The district first has to stop disrespecting us,” Arias said at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Koreatown. “Start respecting them. Respecting them means treating them well, but it also means paying them a living wage.”

Jose Avilez, a fourth grade teacher at Hillery T. Broadous Elementary, said district workers need higher salaries just to meet basic expenses in Los Angeles.

“The cost of living in Los Angeles has gone up, so that’s a big deal,” he said. “It’s unfortunate (because) after the pandemic we know the students are suffering, but we’re also suffering. We have a lot on our shoulders financially … We want our fair share. The money is out there. We want to serve the kids but we also want a fair contract.”

Parents said the strike is taking a toll.

Monica Arrazola, who’s children attend Hollywood High School and Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood, said she’s frustrated by the strike, which she feels puts students in the middle and has particularly impacted the district’s immigrant population. Exams are nearing, and the strike is taking away valuable learning time, she added.

“I know perfectly well that we all need a salary, and I’m very thankful for all of the personnel who are at the schools,” she said in Spanish. “The cause of all of this is the union that is profiting off the education of our children, that is using our children to reach its objective.”

Arrazola works nights and her husband works during the day, which has freed them of the worry of having to find childcare as the strike continues. Arrazola said she had considered going to one of the district’s distribution centers to pick up meals for the next few days but ultimately was unable to, though she hopes to soon. For now, her kids are completing the assignments the district put up on the platform Schoology and are finishing up ongoing school projects.

Union workers, many of whom are also parents, said a few days’ inconvenience is worth the longer-term goal of higher wages.

Sara Herbert, a cafeteria worker at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus, said she works 6.5 hours a day for $16.91 an hour, and it takes two biweekly checks to cover her monthly rent.

“I enjoy my job, but I think we deserve better pay and better health benefits,” said Herbert, who has worked for the district for 29 years and has a daughter who attends an LAUSD high school. “We are here for the kids and we do the best that we can.”

Gledys Guzman, who works as a special education aide for Woodlawn Avenue Elementary in Bell, believed that higher wages would lead to more vacant positions being filled. It’s been difficult to live on a Los Angeles Unified salary, she said. She switched from working as a general teachers’ assistant to one in special education because that guaranteed two more hours of work a day and an hourly wage $2 higher. She now earns $19 an hour and works six-hour days.

“I love working with kids and that’s why I’m staying, but come on,” she said. “LAUSD would rather put money in something else.”

Staff at two of the district’s child care centers said that by mid-morning, they were well under capacity. At Mack Elementary School near the University of Southern California, only five students had shown up for childcare as of 9:30 a.m. The school has room for 80 children. Nearby, the child care center at Vermont Avenue Elementary was also under capacity, although staff wouldn’t say by how much.

At the Expo Center in Exposition Park, nearly 30 students were split between arts and crafts and dodgeball. Giggles echoed across the arts room as the younger children glued colorful construction paper strands together in the shape of a bow, while squeaks filled the gym upstairs as the upper elementary schoolers played ball.

Most of the students were already a part of the existing after-school program, according to facility director Laronica Southerland.

It wasn’t difficult to adapt quickly for the strike, after staff had made similar adjustments during the pandemic and the 2019 teachers strike, Southerland said. On Tuesday, students spent the day on homework and activities such as yoga, meditation and free play.

“From 2019 when they first went on strike to now, we’ve had a little practice,” she said, chuckling. “It’s just how we can support each other’s programs.”

Randy Flores, a member of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps, also contributed to this article.

To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource’s no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

EdSource works to engage Californians on key education challenges with the goal of enhancing learning success. It does so by providing timely, useful and accurate information to key education stakeholders and the larger public; advancing awareness of major education initiatives being implemented in California and nationally; and highlighting effective models and strategies intended to improve student outcomes, as well as identifying areas that are in need of repair or reform