Now that the primaries are over, it’s time to ponder a few issues they raise. And perhaps nothing is more ponderous than turnout. Los Angeles is growing notorious for the pathetic number of voters who show up at polling places. But if you thought Tuesday’s less-than-10 percent turnout was bad, just wait until the May...

Now that LA Unified and UTLA have agreed that they can’t agree, they’re headed for mediation later this month. The state Public Employment Relations Board has assigned a mediator to accomplish in three sessions what the two sides were unable to do in 18 meetings over seven months: negotiate a long-overdue contact for the 35,000-member...

It was dubbed the “Stand at Grand,” and while it may not have drawn as many as the “Thrilla in Manilla,” it was an impressive turnout of thousands of Los Angeles Unified teachers at Grand Park last night as they rallied to demand a new contract. With City Hall behind him and a massive crowd...

“Most of our early escalation tactics are about building solidarity among members, because a 35,000 member union can’t win a fight against the corporate education ‘reformers’ lined up against us with anything less than 35,000 members active in the fight.” That’s what it says on the UTLA website, which makes this a critical week for...

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines had a stern warning today for the LA teachers union as well as for the district, itself: Not only are teachers not getting the salary increases they have been demanding in the now stalled contract negotiations, he said, but with a remaining budget deficit of $160 million, he has already...

Fueling the impasse announced yesterday between the teachers union, UTLA, and LA Unified is a dispute over so-called “unaccounted” sources of money that the teachers union says could be used for raises and other demands. “We are bargaining in good faith but when we uncover a $59 million pot of money the district doesn’t know...

The possibility of a strike by Los Angeles teachers loomed larger today as the teachers union, UTLA, declared an impasse in negotiations with LA Unified, citing a lack of progress in bargaining since the talks began last year. The district agreed and said it would join the union with “reluctant willingness” in asking the state...

The teachers union today made it official, flatly rejecting LA Unified’s most recent contract offer, which included a five percent salary rise, a nine percent increase in minimum salary for first-year teachers and additional money to lower class size. With the union sticking by its demand of an 8.5 percent salary increase, the sides remain...

The LA Unified teachers staged one of its biggest “escalations” yet in support of their demands in a new contract from the district, staging demonstrations at schools across the district. The teachers union, UTLA, said “virtually every school was participating” in protests that lasted 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the school. “These people have...