Negotiations have broken down Sunday in contract talks between Oakland Unified and teachers union officials, a district spokesman said, ensuring that thousands of teachers will continue their strike Monday for a third straight day.
The teachers union is holding out for a 12 percent raise over three years, officials from both the union and the district have said. The district can’t afford to fulfill that demand, and has offered a 7 percent retroactive raise plus a 1.5 percent one-time bonus instead. The district and union’s latest bargaining session lasted about an hour this morning, district officials said, with the union’s bargaining team leaving the table — refusing to come down from the original 12 percent proposal.
“We love and value our teachers, and we want to give them everything they are asking for, however, we cannot afford to do so,” Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said at a news conference Sunday. “We are doing our best to work within our current financial reality.”
The parties are again at impasse, Oakland Unified spokesman John Sasaki said at a news conference Sunday. The district is calling on the union to return to the table; no upcoming bargaining sessions have been planned. The union and the district’s bargaining teams were supposed to meet Saturday, but the union’s team cancelled to consult with its executive board, district officials said.
The union’s raise proposal would cost the district around $60 million, Sasaki said. The district currently faces a budget shortfall expected to reach $56 million by the 2020-21 school year. A state-appointed arbitrator found that the district couldn’t even afford to offer the union a 9 percent raise over three years.
The Oakland Education Association argues that the money is there, and alleges the district has squandered it on administrative employees and outside contracts. The union posted information on social media about the planned strike and rally activities for Monday, set to begin at 6:30 a.m. across the district’s 86 school sites.
“We will be on the lines and in the streets tomorrow,” a post on the union’s Facebook page said. “Come rain, come shine, we fight for students all the time!”
Jenine Lindsey, the district’s chief negotiator, is hopefully that the parties will come to a resolution this week.
The union planned to have teachers and supporters picketing outside Monday night’s school board meeting, where trustees are scheduled to vote on a district proposal to cut $21.75 million from the 2019-2020 school year budget.
The cuts could include laying off more than 100 employees and slashing $3 million from schools’ discretionary funds.
Those funds are supposed to cover teachers’ raises as well as teacher recruitment and retention; however, district officials haven’t said publicly how salary increase money would be left after the cuts.
In a video posted to the union’s Facebook page after contract talks with the district ended late Friday night, Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown told members to expect an update on negotiations at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Brown wasn’t immediately available for comment today. Mike Myslinski, a spokesman for the California Teachers Association who is working with the Oakland Education Association, said in an email Sunday the union is “confirming that the strike will continue for a third day on Monday. Picket lines will resume at all schools at 6:30 a.m.”
Teachers want the maximum class size to be two students smaller, while the district has offered to reduce the maximum size of most classes by one student and those with the “most vulnerable” students by two.
The union’s class size reduction proposal would mean hiring more full time employees, and would cost the district between $18 million and $30 million, Lindsey said,
Thousands of teachers, counselors and nurses went on strike Thursday morning, forming picket lines outside district schools and holding a large rally downtown.
Picketing continued Friday, with another rally held in West Oakland.
At schools, the district recruited fill-in teachers and assigned administrators to lead classes, although many of Oakland Unified’s 37,000 students have not attended school during the strike.
Staff writer George Kelly contributed to this report.