Oakland teachers to stage one-day strike over contract dispute
Teachers in Oakland have announced they will go on strike this week, becoming the second group of instructors to walk out of classrooms in protest to budget cuts.
The strike at the Oakland Unified School District is slated for Thursday and will last for one day, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The teachers' protest follows a controversial school board vote last week. Without teacher input, the board approved new contracts for the district's teachers that stripped instructors of salary raises.
District officials said the vote was necessary because of a $85 million budget shortfall. The ban on raises could save the district about $3 million, according to the Chronicle.
Tony Smith, superintendent of Oakland Unified, said he was committed to keeping salaries and benefits at current levels, but would seek to make up the other $82 million by instituting layoffs, cutting programs and possibly closing several schools.
The local teachers' union, Oakland Education Association, had been negotiating with the district for roughly two years over the contracts before last week's sudden turn of events.
The union accused the district of wasting millions and charged it with violating a state law
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