If you have been paying any attention at all to the issues that have led to the Los Angeles teacher strike, you have heard United Teachers Los Angeles demand the elimination of a provision in the contract that allows L.A. Unified to waive class size restrictions. The collective bargaining agreement contains a table with maximum...

If LAUSD teachers go out on strike, thousands of Los Angeles students will lose days or weeks (or more) of learning time, and local public schools will lose millions of dollars in funding. But that’s not all; a strike will also produce immense anxiety among teachers worried about the fate of students they’re committed to...

2019 hasn’t even started yet and it’s already become the year of education in Los Angeles. UTLA is poised to strike for the first time in three decades. LAUSD leadership is launching a new initiative to “reimagine” public education while simultaneously attempting to stave off bankruptcy and a state takeover. And a March special election...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. The strike by Los Angeles public school teachers is only a day or two away (or maybe a few more). Along with the thousands of picketers and dozens of local reporters covering the strike will come a parade of national media to delve into the contract stalemate...

The line of teachers picketing at an elementary school near downtown L.A. in May of 1989 spanned across the façade of the building and main points of entry. My boyfriend and I (now husband) were both college students at nearby Cal State L.A. and teachers’ aides (TA’s) at the school. Until then, we were both...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. United Teachers Los Angeles and L.A. Unified march inexorably toward a strike in 2019, leading many to think back 30 years to the last Los Angeles teacher strike in May 1989. UTLA calls the 1989 strike a “historic UTLA victory” that resulted in a “historic contract.” Some...

I listened in angst to hear what my union’s response would be to the fact-finding panel’s report as it relates to the contract negotiations between LAUSD and UTLA. When I heard that we were moving to strike, I felt like a child caught between two parents in a bitter divorce. I have taught with LAUSD...

In the spring of 1970, I voted with other teachers to strike for teachers’ rights. At the time, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) was a newly formed organization. I was in my second year as a teacher and I believed wholeheartedly that being on strike was the right thing to do. I would later come...

Thousands of families across Los Angeles have just finished submitting applications for the schools they hope their children will attend next year. The decision of where to send your child to school is one of the most important decisions that a family makes. For many children in our city, the school that they attend will...

Mike Antonucci’s Union Report appears weekly at LA School Report. With no hope of a settlement in sight in the contract dispute between LA Unified and United Teachers Los Angeles, attention has turned to the conduct of the expected teacher strike in January. The district distributed a “family resource guide” to parents to help them prepare for...