Strike on: LAUSD schools close as labor impasse continues

The nation's secondlargest school district ground to a halt Tuesday as 30,000 service workers — joined in sympathy by about 30,000 teachers — walked off the job to begin an anticipated three-day strike in demand of higher wages.

Despite persistent rain, picketing began in the pre-dawn hours at a Van Nuys bus yard, then spread to locations throughout the district, which closed all of its schools in response to the walkout, leaving more than 400,000 students without classes.

The 30,000 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 99 — including cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and others — started picketing at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. The roughly 30,000 members of the powerful teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, joined the service workers on the picket lines.

SEIU and UTLA officials held an early morning rally at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, with union leaders lashing out at LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, accusing him of "union busting" and trying to conduct labor negotiations in public rather than at the bargaining table. They also accused the district of woefully under-paying its service workers, saying those employees earn an average of $25,000 a year.

"Let me be clear, the district has approximately between a $13 billion and $14 billion budget a year," SEIU

By City News Service

Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias told the crowd at the rally. "Out of that budget, it spends between 5% and 6% on payroll for 40% of the workforce. That's negligible."

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, joined workers at the rally, saying the service workers should not be earning "poverty" wages.

"The median income of our bus drivers and our cafeteria workers and our school aides is $25,000 a year," he said. "Who can live on $25,000 a year? Those are poverty wages."

UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz had fiery words for Carvalho, accusing him of short-changing workers and refusing to bargain privately with workers, and saying the district had ample time to negotiate a fair deal but failed to do so.

"He makes more than the president of the United States of America at $440,000," she said. "Bargain with the members."

Early Tuesday afternoon, thousands of union members amassed outside LAUSD headquarters near downtown Los Angeles for another boisterous rally. The LAUSD Board of Education had previously been scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon, but the session was canceled late Monday.

Carvalho issued a statement Tuesday morning again saying he and the district remain prepared to return to negotiations at any time "so we can provide an equitable contract to our hardworking employees and get our students back in classrooms."

"I understand our employees' frustration that has been brewing, not just for a couple of years, but probably for decades," he said. "And it is on the basis of recognizing historic inequities that we have put on the table a historic proposal. This offer addresses the needs and concerns from the union, while also remaining fiscally responsible and keeping the district in a financially stable position."

According to the district, the LAUSD last week made an offer that 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 Monday, Carvalho said the district sweetened the offer to an overall 23% salary increase, along with a 3%

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