Teacher Strike Continues

Teachers at a Dec. 6 march and rally

About 1,500 teachers represented by the United Teachers of Richmond (UTR) will continue their strike Monday at all West Contra Costa Unified schools after their union’s negotiations with the district did not take place as planned today (Dec. 7).

After talks on Saturday that seemed promising, district negotiators did not return to the bargaining table today or provide any written response or proposal to UTR.

UTR President Francisco Ortiz said that lack of response means teachers will “be on the picket lines tomorrow when we should be in our classrooms.”

In contrast to the absence of negotiations with teachers today, Teamsters reached a new tentative agreement with the district. A district news release said Teamsters would return to work Monday.

“We congratulate the Teamsters on their TA,” Ortiz said. “We know that improvements to their salary schedule will only improve stability for our students and classrooms. Now the district has one job to do.”

“Get back to the table and work with us to end this crisis! All that is required is for the district to send their team back to the bargaining table with the clear mandate to settle within the parameters you already set and funded,” Ortiz said.

According to Ortiz, district negotiators said Saturday that the school board had agreed that a package totaling about $97 million over three years was responsible and achievable, including $17.6 million in Year 1, $39 million in Year 2, and $40.4 million in Year 3. Those figures were included in a district documented costing sheet shared with UTR on Dec. 6.

In addition, district staff presented a framework including salary, class size, benefits, special education supports, and international educator protections, Ortiz wrote.

“We were encouraged to see this movement from the district on salary and healthcare,” he continued. “In spite of district staff not coming prepared with detailed proposals and not being able to explain critical elements of their framework, including a complicated restructuring of our entire salary schedule, our team worked late into the night to develop a detailed counter proposal.”

Continued negotiations were expected today but UTR did not hear from the district.

“Our proposal meets the board’s directive and priorities by investing in stability and making our wages and healthcare more competitive so every student and classroom has a permanent teacher,” Ortiz wrote.

On Monday, teachers will return to picket lines and will gather for an 11 a.m. rally at Richmond Civic Center.