More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers demanding higher pay walked off the job in the second-largest US school system on Monday, union officials said.

About 640,000 students arriving on Monday for classes at some 900 campuses in the Los Angeles County School District were met by teachers carrying picket signs and rallying in the rain.

The union wants a 6.5 percent pay rise, more librarians, counsellors and nurses on campuses, smaller class sizes and less testing, as well as a moratorium on new charter schools.

Weeks of ultimately failed negotiations led to the decision to the launch the district's first teachers' strike in 30 years.

"It's an existential battle for the future of public education," teacher Mike Finn told Reuters news outside John Marshall High School in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Los Feliz.

Thousands of teachers and supporters gathered outside City Hall, carrying umbrellas in the rain and chanting as they prepared to march toward district headquarters.

First day of our historic strike! On the line for our students. So much at stake. #UTLAStrong #WeAreLA #Strike4Ed pic.twitter.com/KkQ18zo0Pa — United Teachers Los Angeles (@UTLAnow) January 14, 2019

No formal talks were held over the weekend, dashing hopes of an 11th-hour deal between the teachers union and the school district.

Talks broke down on Friday when union bargaining chair Arlene Inouye said she and her fellow negotiators were "insulted" by the latest contract offer from district officials.

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Some teachers in Denver also walked out on Monday amid salary negotiations, according to a video posted on the Denver Classroom Teachers Association's Twitter page.

But the strike by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) marks one of the largest and one of the few targeting a Democratic-controlled government.

Los Angeles County officials contend the strikers' demands are unaffordable and that a walkout hurts only students and parents.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat who has said he is considering a run for his party's nomination in the 2020 presidential race, has largely avoided taking sides in the labor dispute.

In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday evening, Garcetti urged the district and union to reach an agreement as soon as possible. In a separate tweet, he said the city was offering free rides to students on transit systems.

'Set us up for failure'

Videos posted on Twitter by the UTLA, showed teachers and others marching with picket signs outside of a local public school chanting.

"You can't put students first if you put teachers last," the UTLA union posted on Twitter late on Sunday.

"When you cut our schools to the bone, you set us up for failure," UTLA wrote on Twitter on Monday. "When you reinvest in our schools, we thrive."

The strike has gained nationwide backing, including support from several unions, former teachers and labour rights advocates, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A handful of celebrities and the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have also proclaimed their support for the historic strike.

"We stand with our sisters and brothers from @UTLAnow as they fight for their students and schools," the Maryland State Education Association wrote on Twitter.

Classes for elementary, middle and high schools will continue through the strike, local media reported. Hundreds of substitute teachers have been hired and administrators have been reassigned.

County officials have said UTLA's demands would bankrupt the district.

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"Our commitment to our families is to make sure all of the money we have is being spent in schools. We are doing that," Beutner said in a statement on Friday.

"We hope UTLA leadership will reconsider its demands, which it knows Los Angeles Unified cannot meet."

The strike follows a number of similar actions across the country last year in which teachers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Oklahoma, among other states, launched strikes, walkouts and/or "sickouts" to call for education reform and better pay for teachers.

Nearly a year ago, West Virginia teachers picketed for more than a week before lawmakers officials approved a five percent pay raise for all state workers.

In April 2018, Oklahoma teachers ended a nearly two-week strike after securing pay raises and increased education spending. In Kentucky and Arizona, teachers won a boost in funding and wages last year after walkouts.</s>About 31,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians took to picket lines on a rainy Monday in Los Angeles, where the nation's second-biggest school system is using substitutes and staff to keep school doors open.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom last Thursday unveiled a proposed budget that includes additional funding for public education, with the Los Angeles United School District sweetening its contract proposal to the teachers union the next day. The union, however, rejected the offer as insufficient.

With no bargaining done during the weekend, the union called the strike for Monday, its first walkout in nearly 30 years. LAUSD officials said classrooms would remain open for the 480,000 children impacted by the walkout.

About 400 substitutes and 2,000 credentialed district staff are trying to cover for the union members, with a district guide informing parents that "students are expected to attend school every day." The school district has financial incentive to encourage students to come to school, as the bulk of its funding is based on attendance.

Roughly 81 percent of L.A.'s public school students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, and LAUSD said it continues to serve meals during the walkout.

Some of the more than 30,000 teachers in the Los Angeles public school system hold a rally at City Hall after going on strike in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 14, 2019. MIKE BLAKE / REUTERS

Why teachers are striking

Negotiations between the union United Teachers Los Angeles and the LAUSD began in early 2017, and union members have been working without a contract for more than a year.

In addition to higher pay and improved benefits, UTLA is demanding smaller classroom sizes and schools that are "fully staffed" with nurses, counselors and librarians. It wants a full-time nurse in every school, along with more counselors and librarians.

The union is also looking to cap the growth of privately operated charter schools, which competes for resources with public schools.

"Even with $1.86 billion [in] reserves, LAUSD says it does not have the money to improve our schools to include lower class sizes, accountability for charter schools and a real reinvestment in school safety, vital staffing and educational programs. Since 2008, the cost of living in L.A. has increased 27 percent yet the district offers stagnant wages and healthcare," the union said in a news release.

School district's position

LAUSD's latest offer builds on previous proposals and would reduce classroom sizes, but not to the extent the union is demanding. It also contends that budget restraints means it must any limit new hiring to one year. It's offering a 6 percent raise over the first two years of a three-year contract, while teachers want 6.5 percent retroactive to a year earlier.

The district, which has sought to limit the negotiations to wages, contends that it already faces possible insolvency in two to three years, even before meeting much of what the union is demanding.

"We did not want a strike, we tried our best to avoid it, and will continue to work around the clock to find a solution to end the strike," LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a video posted on the district's website.

The teachers' demands echo those made by educators in four states that staged mass walkouts in the spring of 2018. Beginning in West Virginia in February and followed soon after by walkouts in Oklahoma, Arizona and North Carolina, teachers were able to rally public support, with lawmakers in some states partially reversing course on years of cutbacks to education.</s>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers demanding higher pay walked off the job in the second-largest U.S. school system on Monday, union officials said, leaving hundreds of thousands of students in limbo,

About 640,000 students arriving on Monday for classes at some 900 campuses in the Los Angeles County School District were met by teachers carrying picket signs and rallying in the rain for higher salaries, increased staff and smaller classes.

Videos posted on Twitter by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), showed teachers and others marching with picket signs outside of a local public school chanting.

“You can’t put students first if you put teachers last,” the UTLA union posted on Twitter late on Sunday.

No formal talks were held over the weekend, dashing hopes of an 11th-hour deal between the teachers union and the school district.

Talks broke down on Friday, when union bargaining chair Arlene Inouye said she and her fellow negotiators were “insulted” by the latest contract offer from district officials.

The union wants a 6.5 percent pay rise, more librarians, counselors and nurses on campuses, smaller class sizes and less testing, as well as a moratorium on new charter schools.</s>The Latest: Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers strike

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a strike by Los Angeles teachers (all times local):

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are striking after contentious contract negotiations failed in the nation's second-largest school district.

Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted last year to walk off the job for the first time in 30 years if a deal wasn't reached on issues including higher wages and smaller class sizes. The strike began Monday.

Months of talks between the union and Los Angeles Unified School District ended without a deal.

Schools will stay open. The district has hired hundreds of substitutes to replace teachers and others who leave for picket lines.

The district says the union's demands could bankrupt the school system. It's projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are planning to strike Monday.

The teachers' union rejected an offer Friday from the LA Unified School District, calling the proposal "woefully inadequate."

The district proposed a 6 percent salary increase over the first two years of a three-year contract.

The United Teachers Los Angeles says it wants a 6.5 percent hike that would take effect all at once and be retroactive to fiscal 2017.

With no new talks scheduled, pickets are likely to begin at 7 a.m.

Schools will remain open. The district hired substitutes to replace staffers who leave schools for picket lines.</s>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers demanding pay raises and smaller classes walked off the job in America’s second-largest school system on Monday, marching downtown in the rain after negotiations over a new contract broke down.

Students arriving for classes at some 900 campuses across the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) were met by their teachers carrying picket signs in the city’s first teachers’ strike in three decades. The system educates some 640,000 students.

“It’s an existential battle for the future of public education,” teacher Mike Finn told Reuters outside John Marshall High School in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz.

Some 20,000 teachers, union members and supporters gathered outside City Hall, carrying umbrellas in a rare Southern California rainstorm and chanting as they prepared to march toward district headquarters. No end date has been given for the strike.

Officials for the district, which serves mostly working-class families who would struggle to find child care if classes were canceled, kept schools open, staffed by administrators and substitute teachers.

“This morning, buses rolled and breakfast was served. Los Angeles Unified schools are open and providing every student with a safe and welcoming learning environment,” the LAUSD said on its Twitter account.

The walkout marks the latest in a wave of teachers’ strikes across the United States over pay and school funding, including job actions in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona.

In Denver, a union representing teachers said it would hold a strike vote on Saturday if no deal on a new contract is reached by then.

But the strike by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) marks one of the largest and one of the few targeting a Democratic-controlled government. Los Angeles County officials say the union demands are unaffordable.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat weighing a run for his party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential race, has largely avoided taking sides.

In a video posted to Twitter on Sunday, Garcetti urged the district and union to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Union negotiators have demanded a 6.5 percent pay raise, more librarians, counselors and nurses on campuses, smaller class sizes and less testing, as well as a moratorium on new charter schools.

The district has countered with a proposed 6 percent salary hike with back pay and a $100 million investment to hire more staff and decrease class sizes.

Talks broke down on Friday evening with union leaders saying they were “insulted” by the latest offer from district officials. The two sides did not meet over the weekend.

Los Angeles County School Superintendent Austin Beutner said Friday’s offer to teachers was beefed up after newly-installed California Governor Gavin Newsom increased education spending in his proposed budget.

“This impasse is disrupting the lives of too many kids and their families. I strongly urge all parties to go back to the negotiating table and find an immediate path forward that puts kids back into classrooms and provides parents certainty,” Newsom said in a written statement on Monday.

County officials have said UTLA’s demands would bankrupt the district.

“Our commitment to our families is to make sure all of the money we have is being spent in schools. We are doing that,” Beutner said in a statement on Friday. “We hope UTLA leadership will reconsider its demands, which it knows Los Angeles Unified cannot meet.”</s>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 30,000 teachers were expected to walk off the job in public schools across Los Angeles on Monday, staging their first strike in three decades after union leaders said they were “insulted” by the latest contract offer from district officials.

Barring an unlikely 11th-hour deal between United Teachers Los Angeles and the nation’s second-largest school district, students arriving early on Monday for classes at some 900 campuses will be met by picketing teachers, who also plan a boisterous rally and march to City Hall.

“This is our moment. This is our movement. Solidarity is pouring in, from Los Angeles to London, from Palms to Puerto Rico. Tomorrow. The dedication & passion educators bring every day to the classroom, will be brought to the streets to demand the #schoolsourstudentsdeserve!,” UTLA said in a tweet on Sunday.

The union wants a 6.5 percent pay raise, more librarians, counselors and nurses on campuses, smaller class sizes and less testing, as well as a moratorium on new charter schools.

Negotiators for the Los Angeles County School District, which educates some 600,000 students, have countered with a proposed 6 percent salary hike with back pay and a $100 million investment to hire more staff and decrease class size.

Schools Superintendent Austin Beutner said Friday’s latest offer to teachers was beefed up after newly installed California Governor Gavin Newsom increased education spending in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.

Union bargaining chair Arlene Inouye said she and her fellow negotiators were “insulted” by the proposal. The two sides have not met since Friday.

The union had called for the strike last week, but postponed it until Monday after the district said it had not been given a legally required 10-day notice of the labor action.

The district has urged teachers not to walk out, saying it would hurt the more than 600,000 students who returned from winter break only last week as well as their mostly working-class parents, who would struggle to provide childcare.

“A strike will harm the students, families and communities we serve, and we have a responsibility to resolve the situation without a strike,” the district said after negotiations stalled on Friday.

A strike in Los Angeles would mark the latest job action by teachers nationwide who have called for better pay and working conditions.

Educators in Oakland, California, staged a rally on Saturday in support of their colleagues across the state, while teachers in Denver have said they will walk out on Monday as well if a deal is not reached on a new contract.</s>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers demanding higher pay and smaller class sizes walked off the job in the second-largest U.S. school system on Monday, union officials said, leaving 640,000 students in limbo.

Students arriving for classes at some 900 campuses in the Los Angeles County School District were met by teachers carrying picket signs and rallying in the rain for higher salaries, increased staff and smaller classes, the city’s first teachers’ strike in three decades.

The action is the latest in a wave of teachers’ strikes across the United States, following large-scale actions that began in West Virginia and spread to Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona.

While those cases represented unions battling Republican-dominated state legislatures that had focused on cutting spending, the Los Angeles strike is the largest targeting a Democratic-controlled government. Los Angeles County officials contend the strikers’ demands are unaffordable.

Videos posted on Twitter by the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), showed teachers and others marching with picket signs outside of a local public school chanting.

“The district would like us to believe that class sizes don’t matter,” said Mabel Wong, a teacher at John Marshall High School, during a news conference on Monday.

The union wants a 6.5 percent pay raise, more librarians, counselors and nurses on campuses, smaller class sizes and less testing, as well as a moratorium on new charter schools.

Talks broke down on Friday, when union negotiators said they were “insulted” by the latest offer of a 6 percent salary increase from district officials.

Some teachers in Denver also walked out on Monday amid salary negotiations, according to a video posted on the Denver Classroom Teachers Association’s Twitter page.

Officials from the Los Angeles County School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

Los Angeles County School Superintendent Austin Beutner said Friday’s offer to teachers was beefed up after newly installed California Governor Gavin Newsom increased education spending in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.

County officials have said UTLA’s demands would bankrupt the district.

“Our commitment to our families is to make sure all of the money we have is being spent in schools. We are doing that,” Beutner said in a statement on Friday. “We hope UTLA leadership will reconsider its demands, which it knows Los Angeles Unified cannot meet.”

Nearly a year ago, West Virginia teachers picketed for more than a week, pressing lawmakers for higher salaries in a state with some of the lowest-paid teachers in the country. State officials eventually approved a 5 percent pay raise for all state workers.

In April 2018, teachers in Oklahoma ended a nearly two-week strike that affected about 500,000 schools and 700,000 students after securing pay raises and increased education funding from Republican leaders. In Kentucky and Arizona, teachers saw a boost in funding and wages last year after walkouts.</s>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers strike after contract talks fail in nation's second-largest school district.</s>Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers strike after contract talks fail in nation's second-largest school district

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers strike after contract talks fail in nation's second-largest school district.</s>The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a strike by Los Angeles teachers (all times local):

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are striking after contentious contract negotiations failed in the nation’s second-largest school district.

Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted last year to walk off the job for the first time in 30 years if a deal wasn’t reached on issues including higher wages and smaller class sizes. The strike began Monday.

Months of talks between the union and Los Angeles Unified School District ended without a deal.

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Schools will stay open. The district has hired hundreds of substitutes to replace teachers and others who leave for picket lines.

The district says the union’s demands could bankrupt the school system. It’s projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.

Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are planning to strike Monday.

The teachers’ union rejected an offer Friday from the LA Unified School District, calling the proposal “woefully inadequate.”

The district proposed a 6 percent salary increase over the first two years of a three-year contract.

The United Teachers Los Angeles says it wants a 6.5 percent hike that would take effect all at once and be retroactive to fiscal 2017.

With no new talks scheduled, pickets are likely to begin at 7 a.m.

Schools will remain open. The district has hired substitutes to replace staffers who leave schools for picket lines.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Over 31,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians in Los Angeles, who have been without a contract for more than a year, go on a strike to demand higher pay after negotiations for improved compensation and work conditions failed.