LAUSD Strike
BY: DEREK AGUILAR, DAVID KHACHATRYAN, and RUZANNA YERNJAKYAN
The UTLA and SEIU Local 99 Unions announced a three-day strike that would shut down the second-largest district in the United States. Local 99 workers include bus drivers, cafeteria workers, campus supervisors, custodians, and teacher assistants.
The leading cause of this strike resides in demands for wage increases, more full-time work, respect, and increased staff to improve student services. Members of Local 99 have been negotiating with the district since April of last year for all of these, which will now come to a head on the week of March 19, 2023, as Local 99 workers band together in a city-wide strike to hopefully attain these improvements. Not only will this affect schools across the district, but it will also inevitably affect SOCES. Not only will the strike affect the district, it will force several SOCES events scheduled for next week to be canceled or postponed.
The week of the strike 12th, 8th, and 5th graders are scheduled to take panorama pictures on Thursday. Seniors are also scheduled to take their charter and overhead pictures. The SAT is originally scheduled for Wednesday. The senior talent and fashion show scheduled for Friday, March 24 has been postponed to Friday, April 28th. Ten-week grades are also due next Friday at the moment, but at the time of writing this article it is unknown if the deadline will be pushed back.
As the UTLA representative here at SOCES, Mr. Smiley has said that the main issue is regarding where the money is being spent by LAUSD. This can be seen as areas such as wages and counseling for students are being ignored. The cause of many “open teaching positions” are a result of misplaced funds by LAUSD. Regarding counseling, the superintendent has suggested acceleration days to give students aid, but the question of the district’s reputation has influenced the effectiveness of these days. “People don’t mind paying taxes, they mind when the money gets wasted, and the district wastes money,” said Mr. Smiley. As of last Friday, the strike became the fight of both SEIU and UTLA, and schools are scheduled to be closed for students for a portion of next week.
To gain more input on the issue, Mr. Weldon has decided to help give us insight into the knowledge of the situation. “Historically speaking, unions have helped a lot of workers to improve their wages, benefits, and work environments,” Mr. Weldon stated. “It’s important to stand up for things we believe we deserve.” Negotiations are going on right now between LAUSD staff and the district. “If nothing changes between now and Tuesday, we will go into a strike,” he responded. As a result of the strike, schools will be closed from Tuesday to Thursday for students. However, administrators can enter the school to manage the office and take phone calls.
In conclusion, the strike is going to have a major impact on the way administrators all across the county are treated. We will learn more about the situation as more information is released to the public. We hope to see change occur as a result of the strike.
