Updated: 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 28
Teachers at schools in Union City and parts of Hayward entered the second week of their districtwide strike on Tuesday after a series of marathon bargaining sessions over the long weekend failed to produce a deal.
Despite some movement, both sides said they were still far from reaching a compromise.
“This union action is actually the last resort,” said Joe Kuâe Angeles, president of the New Haven Teachers Association, which represents more than 560 teachers. “And as you can tell, we weren’t able to get any kind of satisfaction from the conversation.”
On Monday, a deal seemed to be within reach, as the union, which had initially sought a 10% raise over two academic years, instead requested a 3.7% retroactive raise for the current school year and an additional 3.26% bump for 2019-20 year.
“Our members pay all healthcare costs out-of-pocket,” the teachers association said in a release. “We know the district can afford to give their teachers COLA (cost of living allowance) to help us keep up with the rising cost of living in the Bay Area.”
The district, however, said meeting would cost roughly $17.7 million over three years and amount to $16.3 million in cuts in the 2020-21 school year.
District spokesman John Mattos said its teachers are already the highest paid in Alameda County, leaving very little room to maneuver.
“We are a declining enrollment district who is deficit spending,” he said. “We’re making millions of dollarsâ worth of cuts every year. And we didn’t feel like we had money to offer a significant raise.”
The district, which had initially offered a 1% raise for next year and a one-time 3% payment, said it had upped the ante to “a one-time, 3% off-the-schedule pay increase for 2018-19 and an ongoing 2% on-the-schedule salary increase for 2019-20.”
But on Monday, the union said the new offer was “still not ratifiable by our members.”
Roughly 11,000 students attend the New Haven Unified School District, which includes two high schools, two middle schools and seven elementary schools in Union City and parts of Hayward.
The next negotiating session is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Teachers, who took shifts over the holiday weekend to picket in support of their bargaining team outside the county office of education, said they will be there until an agreement is reached.
“This is not where I would like to be with my family on a three-day weekend,” said Julie Francisco, a New Haven teacher. “We know we’re out here for a really, really important reason and we’re not willing to give up that fight, so we’ll continue as long as we need to.”
The district maintains that declining enrollment and budgetary deficits prevent it from reaching the estimated $20 million over three years needed to meet the teachers’ demands.
“Teachers are a studentâs most important resource,” said NHTA president Kuâe Angeles. “We want to attract and retain the best teachers for our students, and this district can afford our proposal. It is time to settle this contract and end this strike.”
The strike follows multiple high-profile teachers strikes in major school districts across the county, including in Oakland and Los Angeles earlier this year.
Educators and other members of teacher unions in Oakland, Fremont, Hayward and other Bay Area cities, said they will come and picket with striking teachers, students, parents and community members. Three local teachers unions and California Teachers Association’s chapters have also donated more than $10,000 to a strike fund for NHTA members.
Local teachers have also started a GoFundMe campaign for striking teachers who are “making this sacrifice in the face of a multitude of hardships,” according to a note on the GoFundMe page. “There are those with life-saving medical costs, family emergencies and extraordinary financial hardship.”
Kuâe Angeles voiced appreciation for the parents, community, students and Bay Area educators and organizations who showered teachers and the negotiations team with support.
“You give us the energy we need to stay at the table. With your continued support, we will get a student-centered contract by the end of this weekend. We want to be back in our classrooms,” he said.
KQED’s Vanessa Rancaño and Sara Hossaini contributed to this report.
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