Last Hope to Avoid Strike

UTR President Francisco Ortiz speaks at a Community Town Hall Oct. 18 at Cobiz in Richmond.

In the last step of a state-mandated process before unions can call a strike, the West Contra Costa School District administration and two unions representing 1,500 educators and 1,500 other school employees argued their cases before a state-appointed panel this week.

Both unions have separately taken votes authorizing their leaders to call a strike.

“If there is a strike this is going to have a tremendous impact on the community,” said Veronica Diaz, Business Rep for Teamsters 856 in West Contra Costa.

Strike Could Start As Early As Dec. 2

A timeline of necessary steps indicates a strike could happen as early as Tuesday, Dec. 2, if no agreement is reached.

State-Appointed Panel Hears Both Sides in Two Cases

The panel led by neutral appointee David Handsher of the Public Employment Relations Board met on Oct. 17 about Teamsters’ issues and again on Oct. 18 to address negotiations with the United Teachers of Richmond (UTR).

Francisco Ortiz, UTR president, said the three panel members – one chosen by district administration, one by each union, and neutral PERB appointee Handsher, also planned to meet Nov. 19 about Teamsters and Nov. 20 about UTR.

The hearings were closed to the public and the press.

Once talks end, Handsher will issue a public report related to each union.

The reports’ findings are not binding. Once they are released, either union can call a strike with 48 hours of notice to the district.

Public Report Expected by Nov. 28

UTR president Ortiz said the UTR report must be released by Friday, Nov. 28, to comply with state law.

He also said a strike will not start on a Monday. This appears to mean that a teachers’ strike could start as early as Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Ortiz was speaking at a UTR Community Town Hall held Oct. 18 at CoBiz in Richmond.

UTR Town Hall Set for Kensington

A second UTR Town Hall will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Kensington Community Center (formerly called the Youth Hut). The UTR president and others will offer highlights of their presentation to the state-appointed panel and answer questions.

Teamsters View of Talks

In a telephone interview on Nov. 18, Veronica Diaz of Teamsters Local 856 said the union represents virtually all the district’s 1,500 classified employees including occupational therapists, school secretaries and office staff, custodians, cafeteria workers, glaziers, locksmiths, carpenters, welders, and plumbers – to name a few job classifications.

Diaz, the rep in charge of negotiations for West Contra Costa, was asked whether the Teamsters plan to time any strike to coincide with UTR.

“We do stand in solidarity with the teachers but we are our own union,” she said. “We have a 13-person bargaining committee of rank and file workers.”

She said the Teamsters and UTR are two different unions but “we have been treated in the same way” by the district administration.

“We have had a year and a half of no raises,” she said. “We have folks 15% to 18% below market. We also have 300 vacancies in our unit and we are concerned about privatization by the school district.”

Proposals That Would “Cost the District Nothing”

“We had three language proposals that would cost the district nothing but they were rejected,” Diaz added.

One example of a no-cost proposal was agreeing to give prior notice before work gets contracted out just to see if district employees can do the work in-house and keep costs down, she said. This was rejected.

She said some other areas where the district is choosing to contract out instead of letting its own employees to do the work include annual backflow testing and lead and asbestos abatement.

“They used to be certified to do the work,” Diaz said. “The district has stopped certifying our people. They said it’s burdensome to keep track of who is certified. I don’t find that convincing because there is one welder in the entire district and three to four plumbers.”

Contractors and Consultants Over Permanent Staff

At the Oct. 18 Town Hall meeting, the UTR president and vice president said the district prefers spending on outside contractors and consultants to recruiting and retaining permanent credentialed teachers and other staff.

Ortiz said the district spends 22% of its budget on contractors and consultants. Using outside vendors is a big reason why special education spending has doubled over the past five years, from $53.5 million to $116.9 million, he said.

Missing Five Speech Therapists

UTR Vice President Gabrielle Micheletti gave an example of the district’s approach. Last year, she said, the district cut five vacant speech therapist positions. In the fall, it was discovered that 255 students who were entitled to speech therapy had no therapist assigned to them for five weeks.

“The district then told the speech therapy leads to hire five contractors because it’s faster,” Micheletti said.

“But they were only able to hire three and they’re all virtual,” Ortiz said.

Salary and Benefits Proposals

When it comes to salaries and benefits, the teachers asked, when negotiations began in February, for 5% in the first year and another 5% in the second year of a new contract. The old contract expired June 30, 2025. They also asked for 100% of the cost of Kaiser healthcare instead of the current 80%.

The district offered 0% at each bargaining session until October. It then offered a 2% raise and 85% of Kaiser health care.

Can District Afford to Pay Employees More?

Someone asked why teachers believe the district can pay more while the district says it cannot do so.

Micheletti said key reasons are a pattern of wrong financial projections by WCCUSD and a change in expectations for school district reserves and financial management.

Inaccurate Financial Projections

She said that often at public meetings the district presents financial figures as if they were actual numbers, but they are projections. Often the projections have been “wildly” inaccurate, Micheletti said.

“We’ve seen financial projection inaccuracies of up to 400%,” she said.

Another disagreement is over how much money should be devoted to reserves and how much to current students, Micheletti said.

The state requires that the district (and others like it) keep a 3% reserve, Micheletti said.

A Player Called FCMAT

However, she said school districts are currently under some pressure to conform to a far higher reserve goal.

A relatively new independent agency called the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) is encouraging school districts to have a 20% reserve. Micheletti said. While not a state agency, FCMAT was created by the Legislature in 1991 and is administered by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. It offers “tools” which school districts may use to guide their financial management, according to an on-line description.

David Green, an El Cerrito resident, said he disagreed with a little-known group like FCMAT dictating how local districts allocate money.

“That means huge chunks of money are being set aside,” he said. “It’s probably in the hands of big banks and investment houses. That wealth was created by working people in California. I think we should pull that money out of those unaccountable hands.”

UTR President Ortiz said reversing “mismanagement” of special education funds and reducing high expenditures on outside contractors would also improve district finances.

Will Strike Be Averted?

El Cerrito parents Ada Fung and Maria Miller said after the Nov. 18 meeting that West Contra Costa teachers have been met with “stonewalling and bad faith from the district.” Parents who have written to the board have gotten a “form letter,” they said. The only board member who responded to them at all was Leslie Reckler, they said.

Teamsters rep Diaz said, “We are hoping that the state-appointed fact finder makes a report that is favorable.”

UTR President Ortiz said, “The panel will reconvene on Thursday. They will meet and see if they can find any path forward.”