LAUSD strike looms as school district, union trade barbs

By City News Service

Apotentially crippling strike by service workers that would shut down Los Angeles Unified School District campuses for three days was looming large Friday, with little hope of any resolution being reached before the planned Tuesday walkout.

It was unclear when, or if, the Service Employees International Local 99 union — representing roughly 30,000 cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and other workers — would be back at the bargaining table with the district.

District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said LAUSD officials are prepared to talk, and even potentially sweeten its most recent compensation and benefits offer, but union officials said they are waiting for a state mediator to schedule new talks, and aren’t interested in hearing the district simply reiterate previous proposals the union has already rejected.

In a statement late Thursday, SEIU99 Executive Director Max Arias issued a statement accusing the district of misleading the public about the motivations behind the planned three-day strike.

“This strike is about respect for essential workers who have been treated as a second-class workforce by LAUSD for far too long,” Arias said.

He accused the district of a pattern of harassment of union members and unfair labor practices.

Carvalho countered that the union is “simply refusing to negotiate,” calling it “deeply surprising and disappointing that there is an unwillingness to do so.”

The district was scheduled to engage in labor talks Friday — not with the SEIU but with United Teachers Los Angeles, the powerful teachers’ union which has said its 30,000plus members will honor an SEIU picket line. UTLA is pushing for a 20% raise for its workers. SEIU is seeking roughly 30%, saying many of its workers are paid poverty wages of about $25,000 per year.

District officials said last week that Carvalho had made the SEIU Local 99 “one of the strongest offers ever proposed by a Los Angeles Unified superintendent.”

According to the district, the offer included a 5% wage increase retroactive to July 2021, another 5% increase retroactive to July 2022 and another 5% increase effective July 2023, along with a 4% bonus in 2022-23 and a 5% bonus in 2023-24.

On Wednesday, Carvalho said at a news conference “that 15% plus 10% does not represent the end of the road, we have more resourc-

VOLUME 11,

Felon convicted for 2016 escape from Orange County jail

PG 02

NO. 112

By City News Service

Angelenos across the city, who have criminal records, will have the opportunity to permanently seal their records under SB 731, starting July 1, Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, announced Friday.

In a joint news conference Friday morning at the steps of City Hall, Durazo, Councilmember Curren Price, several coalitions and community organizations discussed how the new legislation would impact not only Angelenos but also Californians. SB 731 was signed into law last fall by Gov. Gavin Newsom, making California the first state in American history to allow almost all old convictions on a person’s criminal record to be permanently sealed.

“What SB 731 does is allow men and women who are living with old convictions, many 30 to 40 years old, to have the opportunity to participate in life with equality and to have the opportunity to go and look for housing without wondering if something that happened in 1980 would come up,” said Saun Hough with Californians for Safety and Justice. “It allows Californians to have the opportunity to be the parents that they would choose to be by participating in their children’s programs at school.”

According to Hough, it was their intention to pass legislation that would remove the barriers to employment, education, and housing for millions of Californians and well over a quarter million of Angelenos.

“It allows me and us the opportunity to be judged by the content of our character today and not the mistakes that we made 30 to 40 years ago,” Hough said.

Durazo said the passing of SB 731 would not have