With the joint March 15 rally and three days of taking to the streets 65,000+ strong for SEIU Local 99’s UPC strike, we celebrate this historic effort uniting SEIU 99 and UTLA members. Collectively, we:

  • forced Carvalho to admit schools can’t run without us
  • pushed the district forward in several areas of UTLA’s bargaining platform
  • pushed the district into finally coming to the table in good faith with SEIU 99 

Late this afternoon, SEIU 99 reached a contract agreement that delivers on their demands for dignity and respect, including:

  • 30% wage increase, plus retroactive pay of $4,000-$8,000 and a $1,000 bonus
  • Average salary for SEIU 99 members will increase from $25,000 to $33,000
  • 7 hours of daily work for Special Ed assistants
  • Fully paid health benefits for teacher assistants, community reps, after-school program workers, and others

This win for SEIU 99 is a win for all of us. We have now seen how far the district will go when we turn up the pressure, and we will be prepared to put them in that position again.

Springboarding off the massive display of power this week and SEIU’s contract victory, UTLA is back at the bargaining table on Tuesday. We are demanding:

  • 20% salary increase
  • lower class sizes 
  • more school nurses, teacher librarians, counselors, psychiatric social workers, pupil services and attendance counselors, and school psychologists
  • fully funded Special Education, Black Student Achievement Plan, and expanded Community Schools
  • expanded green spaces and a plan for clean, free, and healthy schools.

Carvalho has been put on notice that he better move on our demands. If that movement is not enough to settle the contract that UTLA members deserve, we will move to the next round of this fight.