A fighting strategy wins contract gains in LA
In the battle between United Teachers Los Angeles and public school officials, the bosses blinked first, reports Los Angeles teacher .
May 19, 2015
UTLA teachers protest layoffs, budget cuts and school closures (Paul Bailey)AFTER AN eight-month campaign ofescalating protest actions and strike preparations, an overwhelming majority of members of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) voted this month to approve two collective bargaining agreements with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) that will bring major gains for teachers and students in the nation's second-largest school district.
This victory also sets the stage for future struggles between a more organized and more confident UTLA membership and district officials whose attacks on teachers and our union have increased in intensity in the last several years.
Some 83 percent of the 31,000 LAUSD teachers and health and human services professionals who are UTLA members participated in the vote. Of those, 97 percent approved a new contract that includes a 10.4 percent raise over two years, increased protections against administrative abuse, and unprecedented language on class sizes and counselor ratios. Taken together, these gains are an important step towards the union's goal of improving teaching and learning conditions in all schools.
Plus, 99 percent of UTLA members approved a separate deal protecting all LAUSD employees' health benefits from cuts for two years, an important gain at a time when employers are pushing rising health care costs onto workers. The LAUSD Board of Education voted unanimously May 12 to ratify both deals.
A closer look at the new contract--the first negotiated under UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl and the Union Power slate that took office last year--shows that a united and mobilized membership can make serious gains even at a time when teachers and other public-sector workers are expected to bear the brunt of austerity.
After eight years without a raise, all UTLA members will receive a 4 percent pay increase, retroactive to July 2014, followed by three 2 percent increments spaced six months apart. After LAUSD spent months insisting they couldn't afford any more than a 2 percent increase, this is a big improvement--and a sign that UTLA's organizing and strike threats forced district negotiators to move significantly. Technically, this is a three-year contract, but salary negotiations will be reopened for the third year in 2016-17.
The new agreement also replaces confusing and unenforceable contract language on class sizes with unprecedented hard caps. For the 2015-16 school year, classes in grades K-3 will be capped at 27 students--the caps increase by grade level to 46 for high school juniors and seniors. At all grade levels, school-wide class size averages must be three students below the cap.
