Judge Approves Monday Start of LA Teachers’ Strike

Monday is a big day in Los Angeles.  640,000 parents will be trying to figure out how to get a full day of child care for their kids—if they do not want a Principal as a baby sitting.   Education, not in LAUSD next week.

“Los Angeles public school teachers can begin their strike on Jan. 14 after a judge ruled Thursday that the school district could not extend the strike delay even further or block it altogether.

United Teachers Los Angeles had planned to begin their strike on Jan. 10 but were forced to delay it after the school district sought an injunction to block the union and its members from striking.

Barrett Green of Littler Mendelson, an attorney for the school district, said at a hearing Thursday that the district’s collective bargaining agreement requires the union to provide a written 10-day notice before a strike begins.

Rules and students mean little to the teachers union.  This is going to be a long bitter battle—since the district is so close to bankruptcy the State of California has already notified them that are about to be taken over.  Then Guv Newsom can give the union the money and assure LAUSD can not get out of bankruptcy.  Who is in charge of all this?  Is it the union Democrats or school district Democrats.  Either way, the Democrats are in charge!

Judge Approves Monday Start of LA Teachers’ Strike

MARTIN MACIAS JR, Courthousenews, 1/10/19

LOS ANGELES (CN) – Los Angeles public school teachers can begin their strike on Jan. 14 after a judge ruled Thursday that the school district could not extend the strike delay even further or block it altogether.

United Teachers Los Angeles had planned to begin their strike on Jan. 10 but were forced to delay it after the school district sought an injunction to block the union and its members from striking.

Barrett Green of Littler Mendelson, an attorney for the school district, said at a hearing Thursday that the district’s collective bargaining agreement requires the union to provide a written 10-day notice before a strike begins.

Green said the district needs time to prepare before a strike and requires confirmation that a strike threat is real.

“The district is constantly in negotiations with different parties and never knows what’s a real threat,” Green said, adding that the district could suffer irreparable harm if sufficient notice wasn’t granted.

Joshua Adams of Bush Gottlieb, an attorney for the union, said a Dec. 19 email notice of a strike was “clear,” and added that the union’s Jan. 2 email to the district simply sought reaffirmation that the notice was received.

Adams said the district’s concern about any irreparable harm was “speculative.”

In a bench ruling after the hearing, Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel denied the district’s argument for a temporary restraining order and said no evidence showed that the district would suffer any harm if the strike begins on Monday.

“Any irreparable harm the district has suffered has largely already occurred,” Strobel said.

As part of her ruling, Strobel recognized Dec. 17 as the official date of termination of the teacher’s contract, which the district sought to continue enforcing.

In a statement, the school district said it will continue negotiations to seek to resolve contract issues and avoid a strike.

“Los Angeles Unified is willing to work around the clock to avoid a strike that will harm the students, families and communities most in need,” the district said.

UTLA said in a statement following the ruling that Judge Strobel reaffirmed the union’s legal right to strike and that it properly notified LAUSD.

The union announced plans for its 30,000 educators to strike on Dec. 19, backed by a 98 percent vote by its members in August to authorize the strike.

Union officials met with the school district’s bargaining team on Wednesday but did not make any progress.

In a statement after those failed bargaining talks, the school district said it offered the union a reduction in class sizes and more than 1,000 new hires, including nurses, counselors and other educators.

The union wants to see the school district use its $1.8 billion in reserves to reduce class sizes and bolster new hires including nurses, librarians and other staff. They’re also seeking a pay raise and a cap on public dollars that benefit charter schools across the district.