Teachers’ Union Renews Threat to Strike on June 1

Just days before an impartial fact-finding panel convenes to hear testimony on the Los Angeles school district’s ability to substantially raise teachers’ pay, the teachers’ union has renewed its threat to strike on June 1.

Union officials also vowed to block a new district program aimed at improving education at the district’s lowest-achieving inner-city schools, saying that it raises questions of staffing and pay that may be in violation of the teachers’ labor agreement. Union President Wayne Johnson said Thursday that the district is ill-prepared to launch the program and says it was proposed for “blatantly political reasons.”

The union, United Teachers-Los Angeles, campaigned actively last month against two incumbent board members, Rita D. Walters and John Greenwood, who opposed a large raise, and was instrumental in Greenwood’s defeat.

Johnson said that although the union endorses the concept of the special program, it will urge teachers not to participate in it. He said teachers are united behind the union and will honor the request, as well as carry out a strike if the long-running wage dispute with the district is not settled soon.

District spokesman Bill Rivera labeled the union’s pledge to block the new program “another negotiating ploy,” but said district officials take the strike threat seriously. He suggested that political gain is a major reason for the union’s stance and singled out Johnson, a popular president who has been rumored to be seeking an unprecedented third term, for criticism.

Since negotiations began last June, the teachers have been seeking a 14% raise, retroactive to the beginning of the school year last July. The district’s last offer was for 10% retroactive only to November. In recent months, the union staged a successful one-day walkout by 78% of the district’s teaching force, and also persuaded teachers to boycott unpaid, after-school activities, such as open houses and parent conferences.

Strike Vote Due

The fact-finding panel will begin two days of private hearings Monday to determine whether the district can afford a 14% raise. Johnson said teachers will be asked to take a strike vote on May 26, three days after the panel’s report is due. If the vote is affirmative, and if the district has not made a satisfactory offer, a strike will begin on June 1, meaning that teachers will not give final exams nor turn in final grades, he said.

About 20,000 of the district’s 26,000 regular classroom teachers belong to the union. The union is the bargaining agent for both members and non-members.

Johnson said that without union cooperation, the district cannot proceed with its plans to launch in September an effort it has called the Effective Schools Program.

The program, characterized by district officials as an innovative response to the chronic low achievement in predominantly black inner-city schools, will begin in 10 schools--36th Street, 93rd Street, 96th Street, 97th Street, 102nd Street, 112th Street, Compton Avenue, Flournoy, Martin Luther King Jr. and McKinley Avenue. Those schools have generally attained the lowest scores in the district on standardized tests.

Key elements of the program are a longer school year, smaller classes in primary grades and a high degree of parent participation in matters ranging from teacher selection to courses of study. The schools will emphasize learning to speak and read standard English, district officials said.

Each school will be reorganized, with a new principal and teachers chosen according to specific guidelines. School district officials said they hope that the innovative nature of the program will encourage teachers from throughout the district--including those now assigned to the 10 schools--to apply for it. Participating teachers would not earn special pay for taking part, but would receive some additional money for the longer school year.

Teacher Transfers

Teachers in the targeted schools who are not chosen or who prefer not to apply for the project would be transferred to other schools--an aspect of the proposal that concerns the union.

According to Associate Supt. Paul Possemato, who is overseeing the pilot effort, one of the most innovative aspects is the expanded role proposed for teachers. He said teachers will be asked to help make decisions about textbooks, curriculum, budgets, supplies, discipline and a number of organizational matters, such as class schedules.

The program’s requirements for teacher transfers, longer hours and other commitments have caused considerable concern among union members, Johnson said. “There are so many unanswered questions that (to implement it now) would be absolute disaster, and a good concept would go down the tubes.”

District officials have suggested that a major reason for the union’s opposition to the program--and for its hard-line stance on winning a substantial pay boost--is Johnson’s own political ambitions. But Johnson insisted Thursday that he does not plan to seek a third term when his current term expires next year. To seek reelection, Johnson would have to win approval of a change in union bylaws that now limit presidents to two consecutive terms.