The LA teachers strike ends after teachers approve deal, according to preliminary figures
The six-day Los Angeles teachers’ strike ended Tuesday after teachers and staff members threw their support behind a new agreement reached hours earlier, according to a preliminary vote tally.
The vote by members of the United Teachers Los Angeles union enables teachers to return to work on Wednesday, ending a battle that left 600,000 students in limbo. Preliminary numbers from the vote show that “a vast super majority” voted yes, ending the strike, UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl told reporters late Tuesday. He said the counting of the ballots will continue on Wednesday. “It’s a historic day today in Los Angeles,” he said.
“Our members after a strike that began on Monday, January 14, are going to be heading back to school, to the students that they love and the classrooms that they love and the schools that they love and are committed to,” he added.
The new agreement with the district includes a 6% raise, a gradual decrease in class sizes over the next few years and more counselors, librarians and nurses. Union leaders and the Los Angeles Unified School District had struck a tentative deal around dawn Tuesday after a marathon 21-hour negotiating session, Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
“It is a historic agreement,” the mayor, who helped mediate the dueling sides, said before Tuesday’s vote. “It gets to lower class sizes. It gets to proper support staff.
Caputo-Pearl praised the more than 30,000 teachers and staff members who picketed for six days, often under cold rain.
“I’m so proud of our members, classroom teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians, psychologists,” Caputo-Pearl said earlier Tuesday. He made those remarks at a news conference standing next to Beutner — a symbolic sight, considering Beutner has been the target of intense UTLA criticism for months. While both sides gathered in harmony Tuesday, “the strike was painful, and it had a cost,” Garcetti said.
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