Teachers Union Faces Charges Over Boycott of Certain Chores

The Los Angeles Board of Education said it will send a letter to its 32,000 teachers today informing them that the district will file unfair labor practice charges against United Teachers-Los Angeles for what it considers an “unlawful” boycott of certain teacher duties.

Many teachers are shunning yard supervision, standardized testing, meetings with parents and faculty and certain chores related to counting student daily attendance to protest a contract dispute with the Los Angeles Unified School District. The union, which has 22,000 members, claims that these duties are voluntary and unpaid.

But the district told teachers in the letter that the current contract considers such chores “a mandatory part of the basic paid assignment” and called any attempt by the union to distort those provisions “unlawful bad-faith bargaining.”

In the letter, the district also reiterated its threat to dock the pay of any teachers found participating in the boycott. Associate Supt. Gabriel Cortina said Tuesday that reductions “most likely” will begin to show up on the teachers’ next paychecks.

The unfair labor practice charges will be filed with the state Public Employment Relations Board, which has the authority to intervene in negotiations between public agencies and their employees. The board could, after an investigation, issue a formal complaint against the union and set a hearing, a process that could take several months.

The district and the union have been in contract talks for nearly nine months and remain far apart over several key issues, including pay and broadening teachers’ decision-making authority.

Union President Wayne Johnson said Tuesday that the union is sticking by its interpretation of the duties as unpaid and voluntary. “Teachers are paid for 120 hours a month and that is essentially for teaching classes,” he said. “No one can construe (before- and after-school chores) as paid time. . . . For the district to file charges against teachers for refusing to do unpaid duties is very interesting, to say the least.”