Hundreds of firefighters attend rally of support
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — A Los Angeles teachers’ union and leaders of the second-largest U.S. school system negotiated until dawn on Tuesday as they worked to end a strike that has disrupted classes for 500,000 students for six school days.
The two sides, joined by Mayor Eric Garcetti, scheduled their first joint news conference since talks began at 9:30 a.m. PT to update the public on progress in talks to end the city’s first teachers’ strike in three decades.
About 30,000 teachers walked off the job last week demanding the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) raise their pay, cut class sizes and the hire of more support staff such as nurses. While Garcetti’s office does not have direct oversight of the schools, he stepped in last week as mediator.
The two sides had remained at the table until 6:13 a.m., Garcetti’s office said.
Hundreds of firefighters attending a conference in Los Angeles rallied downtown on Tuesday in support of the stoppage, joined by a marching band of striking music teachers, according to the United Teachers Los Angeles union.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told the crowd of striking teachers and supporters she hoped the negotiations would reach a “good conclusion.”
“But we will stay on the streets until we get to the righteousness that every single child wants and needs,” she said.
The union also has sought restrictions on the steady expansion of independently operated charter schools, arguing they divert resources from the bulk of the district’s students.
Union supporters and district officials alike have credited the striking teachers with reawakening public, media and politicians to years of neglect in public school systems around the country.
Sympathy for the strike has run high among Los Angeles parents, despite the disruption.
The district has said all of its 1,200-plus schools will be open on a limited basis as long as the walkout continues.
Teachers staged walkouts over salaries and school funding in several U.S. states last year, including West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona. The Los Angeles stoppage differs in that educators face a predominantly Democratic political establishment more sympathetic to their cause.
LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner has framed the dispute in Los Angeles in terms of dollars and cents, saying there is too little money to meet teachers’ demands in full without additional resources from the state.
