Los Angeles teachers' strike extends to second day with no talks on horizon
By Alex Dobuzinskis and Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Some 30,000 striking teachers demanding higher pay, smaller classes and more support staff from the nation's second-largest school district walked picket lines for a second day on Tuesday, with no new talks on the horizon between stalemated union and district officials.
Negotiators for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the United Teachers Los Angeles have not met since union leaders rejected the LAUSD's latest contract offer on Friday night, calling the proposal an "insult."
Asked Tuesday afternoon whether the two sides had any intention of returning to the bargaining table, an LAUSD spokeswoman said, "Nothing is scheduled at this time."
The strike, shattering 30 years of labor peace by Los Angeles teachers, has not completely idled instruction in the sprawling district encompassing some 1,200 schools.
The district has enlisted administrators and substitute teachers to keep classes open on a limited basis through the strike, though LAUSD reported only about a third of its 492,000 students showed up on the first day of the walkout.
The high absence level is expected to cost the district $25 million in state funding, which is based on daily student attendance, according to LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner.
CHARTER SCHOOLS
Roughly 148,000 additional students are enrolled in LAUSD's independently managed charter schools, which for the most part have been unaffected by this week's labor strife.
On Tuesday, however, a group of no more than four dozen unionized teachers at three LAUSD charter schools operated by a company called The Accelerated Schools also walked off the job in a separate dispute they said was focused on job security.
Randi Weingarten, president of the parent union American Federation of Teachers, said the Accelerated work stoppage, while small in comparison to the larger strike, was symbolically important because it marked only the second charter school strike in the nation and the first in California.
Teachers unions, while critical of charter schools they see as competing for public school resources, have nevertheless sought to organize charters' mostly non-union labor force.
"We have to find ways to live together, but let's make the priority neighborhood public schools," Weingarten told Reuters.
Aside from the education disruption, the teachers' strike could have implications for the political aspirations of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is considered a likely contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Garcetti expressed support for the striking teachers on Tuesday, saying on Twitter, "I admire the courage with which they remain steadfast in demanding excellent schools and opportunities for our children."
The mayor had previously avoided taking sides in the dispute, over which he has little practical sway because the LAUSD is governed by an independently elected school board that appoints its superintendent.
'JOIN ME ON THE BUS'
Although the two sides remained at loggerheads on contract proposals, superintendent Beutner sought to highlight what he called their common goals.
"We aspire to the same set of things, but we have limits," Beutner told a morning news conference. "We didn't set the limits."
Beutner said the district has offered staff increases that would cost $130 million a year - more than county officials have said is available - while the union's demands would cost $800 million.
Beutner offered to join teachers in lobbying state lawmakers to increase education funding. "Join me on the bus," he said. "Let's go."
UTLA negotiators have demanded a 6.5 percent pay raise, as well as the hiring of more librarians, counselors and nurses, smaller class sizes and less standardized testing.
Teacher pay currently averages $75,000 in the LAUSD, according to state figures. The district has offered a 6 percent hike with back pay.
(Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Jane Ross in Los Angeles, additional reporting by Gina Cherelus and Peter Szekely in New York, Rich McKay in Atlanta; editing by Bill Tarrant and Cynthia Osterman)
