LA teachers union sets Jan. 10 strike date if no deal with district reached
LOS ANGELES (FOX 11) - The union representing 33,000 teachers announced plans to go on strike Jan. 10 if no labor deal is reached with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said there has been no movement from the district on key issues for months, and the union has reached the point of "enough is enough.''
He said the union has "not accepted the district's offer to go back to the table.''
The plan to strike comes for the first time in nearly 30 years as frustrations mount over more than 18 months of negotiations with Los Angeles Unified School District.
United Teachers Los Angeles leaders rejected the latest contract offer last month. There has been no agreement despite three state mediation sessions, and the standoff is now in a fact-finding stage - the final step of a negotiation process under state law.
The union contends that the district is hoarding a huge financial reserve that could be used to pay teachers more and improve conditions for students. Union leaders also criticized a plan to reorganize the district by dividing it into 32 networks.
Meanwhile, school workers are demanding smaller class sizes, more full-time nurses and librarians.
"There is not a nurse in every school every day. Some schools get a nurse one day a week if they're lucky," said Stephanie Yellin-Mednick, who has worked as a school nurse for 37 years. "There is simply not enough of us to take care of the kids."
The district has said it's committed to good-faith bargaining and providing teachers with better pay and support.
The district has more than 640,000 K-12 students in Los Angeles and all or parts of 31 smaller cities, plus several unincorporated areas.
Thousands of teachers rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. The teachers and their supporters wore red shirts, banged drums and carried signs that read "Stand With LA Teachers!" as they took to the streets demanding a new contract.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.