April 14 (UPI) — Los Angeles schools will not close for a strike after the district reached a deal with the third and final union Monday evening.
Hours before the 2 a.m. PDT strike deadline, the district announced it had struck a deal with the Service Employees International Union Local 99, which represents 30,000 custodians, food workers, special education assistants and bus drivers.
LAUSD announced on its website that schools would be open Tuesday.
“We are proud to have reached resolution with all of our labor partners, UTLA, SEIU, and AALA Teamsters Local 2010, ensuring stability for our schools and continuity for the students and families we serve,” Acting Superintendent Andrés E. Chait said.
The district had already reached tentative contract agreements with the unions that represent teachers and administrators over the weekend. Those unions were prepared to strike with the SEIU members if an agreement wasn’t made.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement in principle with SEIU Local 99 that will allow schools to be open today,” the district said in a statement. “LAUSD and SEIU teams will continue to work together to finalize the details of a tentative agreement.”
According to SEIU Local 99, the deal includes a 24% wage increase; more work hours ensuring health insurance benefits; rescinding layoffs for IT professionals; expansion of health care benefits for teacher assistants, after-school workers and others; and no subcontracting to outside vendors.
The SEIU must still vote to ratify the deal.
“This agreement was won through the bold action and courage of thousands of workers who were willing to sacrifice to improve conditions in their schools and their lives,” SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias said. “A strike was always the last resort, and we are proud that we could work with the school district and [Los Angeles] Mayor Karen Bass to reach an agreement that recognizes the contributions of front-line workers in our schools.”
Bass said on Instagram that she worked with both sides to help them find a deal “because a strike would disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids and their parents, who need childcare and need to go to work.”
Associated Administrators Los Angeles, which represents about 3,000 administrators, reached an agreement with the district Sunday night. United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing its roughly 35,000 educators, reached an agreement earlier in the day.
The three unions represent about 70,000 LAUSD employees, who serve about 400,000 students.
