LA teachers postpone strike

by Emily Birnbaum - 01/09/19 7:14 PM ET

The Los Angeles teachers union on Wednesday decided to postpone its strike until Monday, saying in a statement that they do not want to bring “confusion and chaos into an already fluid situation,” according to The Los Angeles Times.

The announcement comes as the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and the Los Angles Unified School District continue to argue over whether the school district was given the legally mandated 10-day strike notice.

{mosads}The union announced a Jan. 10 strike last month.

“Unlike [LA Schools Superintendent Austin] Beutner and his administration, we do not want to bring confusion and chaos into an already fluid situation,” United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said in a statement, the Times reported. “Although we believe we would ultimately prevail in court, for our members, our students, parents and the community, absent an agreement we will plan to strike on Monday.”

A judge is expected to rule on Thursday whether the union gave the proper 10-day notice, the newspaper reported. The union’s leaders say they alerted the district last month, but the Los Angeles Unified School District says the union did not go through the proper channels.

The union has demanded a 6.5 percent immediate raise that would go into effect within a year, while the district has offered a 6 percent pay raise over the course of the first two years of a three-year contract.

About 32,000 teachers and staff members are expected to participate in the strike.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told the Times that “both sides” have made “serious offers” and are focusing on “the issues we all agree on: smaller class sizes, more support staff, decent pay and improving existing schools instead of opening new ones.”

Teacher strikes took place last year in a number of states, including Arizona, Colorado and West Virginia.

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