A planned, three-day strike by service workers employed by the nation’s second-largest public school district was underway Tuesday, officials said.
District Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said at a news conference Monday evening that all schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District would be closed Tuesday.
The announcement came as the Service Employees International Union Local 99, which represents cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians and special education assistants, said late Monday the planned strike would go on.
“School bus drivers whose shifts normally begin at 4:30 a.m. will be the first to launch the strike,” Local 99 said in a statement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Sunday that the city would pitch in during the strike to help distribute student lunches at 21 “Grab & Go” locations. The Los Angeles Zoo said admission would be free to LAUSD students through the end of the three-day action.
LAUSD has an enrollment of around 430,000 K-12 students, according to its district data website.
Negotiations that might have provided a solution were nonexistent as Local 99, representing more than 30,000 district workers, headed into Tuesday fully planning to launch its strike. United Teachers Los Angeles, which says it represents around 35,000 educators, has said it wouldn’t cross picket lines.
Local 99 blamed the day’s negotiation failure on the district. Its executive director, Max Arias, said district officials broke an agreement to hold confidential mediation over a potential contract, nixing progress.
Arias said Local 99 was not negotiating with the district Monday night, but rather was seeking resolution through a state-run process that seeks to unlock impasses.
“We were never in the same room or even in the same building,” Carvalho said Monday of the failed negotiations. “Today we had a golden opportunity that just didn’t happen.”
Local 99 indicated last week that the district had a long way go amid calls for higher wages. It has said its members make an average salary of $25,000 a year, more than $10,000 below the state poverty line for a family of four.
The union’s workers are aiming for a 30% wage increase, SEIU Local 99 spokesperson Blanca Gallegos said in a statement Thursday. Members authorized a strike in February.
Carvalho said the district has offered a wage increase totaling more than 20% over a multiyear period, along with a 3% bonus, The Associated Press reported.
Todd Miyazawa and Erick Mendoza contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
