Los Angeles teachers planning January strike if no contract is reached
The country's second largest school district, in Los Angeles with more than 640,000 students, will be facing a teacher's strike this January since it appears unlikely that contract negotiations will be resolved by then. The United Teachers Los Angeles union is asking for a 6.5 percent pay increase; increased staffing for counselors, nurses, social workers and librarians, increased funding; reductions in standardized testing; an expansion of community schools, and more accountability for charter schools. The district superintendent says it will be unable to afford all of the demands, and is currently working on a plan to create 32 school networks overseen by regional headquarters, with the resources for the central office being decimated. The union is planning a “March for Public Education" on December 15, with a strike tentatively scheduled for the first half of January. 2018 has been notable for labor unrest for the country's educators in various states, including West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, and Washington. Chicago is facing the most recent round of protests, both in suburban Geneva and in downtown Chicago with the country's first charter school strike on its second day. Further mobilization is expected in Virginia, Texas, and Oklahoma again in 2019.
See "Los Angeles teachers planning January strike if no contract is reached", Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, December 6, 2018