UTLA educators at Alliance charter schools are working to build support for their bargaining demands and for more accountability from the Alliance board. This week, they scored a victory after bringing their stories to LA City Councilmembers. 

Educators at four Alliance schools in Los Angeles unionized with UTLA and have since been up against a yearslong multi-million-dollar anti-union campaign. But Alliance educators are not giving up their fight for a contract and are working with parents to build new support from the community for the changes they want to see at their schools. 

“We have been in an uphill battle with Alliance management for over 10 years,” says Alliance Burton Tech history teacher and bargaining team member Edgar Hermosillo. “The biggest thing we are fighting for is a voice for our educators.” 

This week, they scored a victory after bringing their stories to city representatives. LA City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martínez, and Ysabel Jurado sent a letter to the LAUSD school board after listening to how Alliance management and its board have disrespected educators, students, and families in their districts. The letter calls out Alliance’s harassment of educators and multiple violations of labor law. 

On Tuesday, the LAUSD school board took eleven Alliance charter renewals off the consent calendar that were poised for routine approval, and questioned Alliance management about how much they have spent on fighting educators at PERB, how their union busting contradicts their stated social justice values, how they plan to address benchmarks for English Learners and students with disabilities, reduce Black student suspensions, and how to support new teachers — all of which overlap with the issues that members have raised in bargaining. 

“As one of the original teachers who started organizing our union in 2014, getting the support of councilmembers is bringing new energy to our fight,” says Hermosillo. 

Educators are back at the bargaining table today to keep fighting for respect and a voice at their schools.