Board Offers L.A. Teachers Pre-Election Raise of 10%

Just weeks before an April election in which two Los Angeles school board incumbents face opposition from candidates backed by the teachers’ union, the Los Angeles Unified School District has offered teachers an immediate raise of 10%, retroactive to last November.

District officials, in making the offer late Monday, told union representatives that they could continue to negotiate with the district for more money even if they accept the offer. But a union official on Tuesday called the proposal a “sneaky, underhanded” ploy designed to gain the favor of teachers before the election.

According to a special bulletin delivered to teachers at the district’s 600 schools early Tuesday morning, the district said its offer was motivated by concern over “the slow progress of this year’s negotiations and the resulting delay in getting salary increases to the teachers.” The bulletin, which contained a reprint of the formal written offer to the union’s bargaining team, said the board wishes that “teachers receive a salary increase while we continue negotiations.”

But United Teachers-Los Angeles President Wayne Johnson said the offer was “political all the way” and will be rejected formally today.

The union, which in the past has tended to endorse school board incumbents, announced earlier this year that it would oppose board President Rita Walters, who represents South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles, and John Greenwood, who represents South Los Angeles and the harbor area.

The union is supporting community activist Mark Ridley-Thomas against Walters and UCLA administrator Warren Furutani against Greenwood. The union, which can mobilize hundreds of volunteers on Election Day as well as make substantial cash contributions, had helped campaign for Walters and Greenwood in previous elections.

“The district is hoping to create dissension within the ranks of UTLA so our support of Ridley-Thomas and Furutani will dissipate somewhat,” Johnson said.

Greenwood denied that the offer was politically motivated. He said that the wage proposal was sincere and does not preclude further bargaining on pay or other issues.

Last Friday the union asked the state Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees collective bargaining involving public employee unions, to establish an independent fact-finding panel to try to resolve the pay dispute. The fact-finding procedure is one of the final measures by which the state tries to resolve an impasse before a public employee union can legally strike.

Although union officials said as recently as last month that an offer of a 10% raise retroactive to the beginning of the school year in July would be acceptable, Johnson said Tuesday that the union has gone back to its original request for a 14% increase because it believes that the district can afford it.

Both union and district officials said that it is unlikely now that the contract, which runs to 1988 but allows renegotiation each year of pay and other items, will be settled before the April 14 primary.