In March, Service Employees Union (SEIU) Local 99 won important victories after a three-day strike and months of negotiations with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Union members voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract on April 8. It was reported on April 18 that the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education unanimously approved the new contract. The agreement included an increase in the average annual salary from $25,000 to $33,000 (a 30 percent hike), a boost in the district minimum wage to $22.52, and secure healthcare benefits for part-time employees who work at least four hours a day.
For union members, this outcome is the result of a struggle that began in 2022. An impasse in contract negotiations was declared on December 22; Local 99 members voted to authorize a strike on February 23, 2023.
“LAUSD had two months to negotiate with SEIU Local 99 members,” said Blanca Gallegos, director of communications for Local 99. “They never reached out to us. During the mediation process, they made no significant movement. SEIU Local 99 has not walked away from the bargaining table.”
SEIU Local 99 represents about 30,000 support staff for LAUSD, including gardeners, custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and special education assistants.
With average salaries for school service workers at just $25,000 and many workers limited to part-time schedules, better pay and expanding full-time status was central to their demands. “We have some of our most underpaid workers doing the most challenging jobs on our campuses,” Los Angeles parent and strike supporter Jenna Schwartz told ABC 7 Los Angeles. “The majority aren’t receiving health care. They’ve been negotiating for years to no avail.”
While one union-led contract negotiation has successfully ended—the board is expected to approve the contract between the district and support staff in a voice vote on April 18—a longer and somewhat more contentious contract negotiation between the district and its teachers, represented by the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), has yet to be resolved.
“We would [distribute leaflets to] the parents when they were dropping off their kids, letting them know...what we were asking for and fighting for and the parents stood behind us.”
To understand how school service workers won their demands and whether their win will translate into leverage for the teachers, The Progressive interviewed leaders of SEIU Local 99 on their campaign.
Conrado Guerrero, President of SEIU Local 99 and a building engineer with the LAUSD, cited membership involvement as a key factor. “We did a great job of inoculating the membership, keeping them up to date on the bargaining, telling them what the district was really not coming to the table with,” he says. “That really resonated with our membership to stand up and say ‘enough is enough.’ Giving your members the knowledge and keeping them in the loop…is key in order for them to take action. You have to let them know where you are at and what it is going to take to get where we want to be.”
Support from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, as well as calls and letters from the White House and lawmakers also appeared to pay off for the workers.
“[W]hen it comes to the politicians that you vote for…that made a big, big impact for us,” says Elizabeth Thomas-Parker, vice president of Local 99 and a special education assistant with the LAUSD. “Karen Bass came out to our office and she sat down with us and she wanted to hear our concerns.”
There was a general consensus that Bass’s role as mediator helped settle the strike.
Thomas-Parker explained how Local 99’s support for the UTLA strike in 2019 paid dividends in her union’s win in 2023. This year, UTLA conducted a sympathy strike with SEIU by walking off their jobs during Local 99’s three-day action.
“The big factors for the win was that we came together in solidarity, that people really came together…and the teachers came out and they also were able to fight with us,” Thomas-Parker says.
Local 99 also made successful public outreach efforts during the dispute.
“They [the general public] understood why [the strike] was being done…they understood it was something that had to be done,” Guerrero says. “We would [distribute leaflets to] the parents when they were dropping off their kids, letting them know what we were getting ready for and what we were asking for and fighting for and the parents stood behind us.”
Both Guerrero and Thomas-Parker feel the outcome of Local 99’s strike will have a ripple effect on ongoing negotiations between UTLA, representing about 35,000 teachers, and LAUSD.
“I don’t think they are going to want to see another three-day strike or any type of strike. I think this will help, moving forward, for the District to come to the table and really bring change to their proposals,” Guerrero adds.
That momentum was reflected in an encouraging email sent on March 31 by UTLA to its members.
“[LAUSD Superintendent Alberto] Carvalho has been put on notice that he better move on our demands,” the email read. “If that movement is not enough to settle the contract that UTLA members deserve, we will move to the next round of this fight.”
Chris Zepeda-Millán, chair of UCLA’s labor studies program, thinks UTLA now has a strong advantage. He noted that the union has a larger war chest than Local 99 and more school board members who were elected with the union’s help. And if UTLA does go on strike, Local 99 will probably conduct a sympathy strike to return the favor to UTLA for their support.
Both Guerrero and Thomas-Parker saw the potential for a ripple effect nationwide, given Local 99’s success.
Lee Adler, a lecturer and expert on education union issues at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, concurred.
“When something like this happens in a place like Los Angeles,” Adler says, “people with similar jobs in places like Chicago or Detroit wonder whether they should be fussing more, or demanding more. When people see others stand up and fight, they certainly get a little restless, and some think, ‘Could we do something like that to improve our lives?’”