Angry Break in Talks Extends Teacher Strike : Union Leader Accuses School Board of Lying, Says Dispute May ‘Get Rougher’ in 2nd Week

Stalemated talks between striking teachers and the Los Angeles Unified School District broke off Sunday night in rancor, and the union president predicted that the strike would “get rougher” as it now goes into its second week. No future bargaining sessions were scheduled.

Wayne Johnson, president of United Teachers-Los Angeles, angrily charged that school board members lied to him about negotiating stances. “They haven’t changed their positions one iota from two weeks ago. They want the strike to continue,” he said after an hourlong meeting with district negotiators in a downtown hotel.

Johnson was particularly angry at school board member Jackie Goldberg, who had been acting as a go-between in discussions. “I thought Jackie Goldberg was part of the solution, but now I see her as part of the problem,” Johnson said.

Goldberg Upset

Reached at home by telephone, a distraught Goldberg denied Johnson’s charges and speculated that he was looking for a scapegoat. “He’s wrong. Maybe he heard what he wanted to hear instead of what I told him,” she said. “I took a risk of trying to facilitate things to keep people talking together. But it’s a risk I would take again because there is so much at stake.”

Goldberg said that “terrible things” might be in store if the district faces a lengthy strike. “I just can’t believe there isn’t any deal. I just can’t believe there isn’t a settlement,” she said.

Johnson charged that the strategy of the district is to drag the strike into a second week in hopes of a lot of attrition in the strikers’ ranks. But union leaders claim that the number of teachers who will return to work today will be relatively small.

About 1,900 more regular teachers were at work Friday than last Monday, the first day of the strike. Still, about two-thirds of the 32,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors remained out Friday.

School board President Roberta Weintraub said she was “very sorry and very sad” that the district’s offer was rejected but she declined to give details because of an agreed-to news blackout.

“I don’t see any official meetings taking place in the foreseeable future,” Weintraub said. Asked about the possibility of a long strike, she replied: “The decision is theirs,” referring to the union. She urged parents to send their children to school today.

The talks were to begin again about 3 p.m. Sunday at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown, after separate afternoon meetings of the school board and union leadership. But the mood gradually became tense as union leaders were left waiting at the hotel for several hours and the school board’s closed-door meeting a block away in the Bunker Hill offices of its attorneys dragged on until nearly 8 p.m.

En route to the hotel meeting, Weintraub said the board was more united on the issues after weeks of dissension. “We have appropriate direction on every single issue,” she said. “All the issues are totally defined.” She attributed the delay in starting the bargaining session with the union to the lengthy discussion among board members.

Several Issues Discussed

Johnson said the school board was supposed to reviewe a union counterproposal on several issues, including pay. “We think it’s a good offer,” he said.

According to Johnson, the district has not budged on the issues of pay, shared governance at schools or docked pay.

The union wants any settlement to ensure that teachers will receive the pay withheld from them because of various job actions over the year, including the withholding of grades two weeks ago. However, he said, the district Sunday night offered only to allow teachers to earn back the equivalent of the nearly $2 million in lost pay through extra duties.

Student attendance dipped sharply throughout the week, so that by Friday only about half of the 594,000 district students showed up.

That attendance drop has raised some fears that the district could lose large amounts of state funds, which are based on an average of attendance figures throughout the year. However, in an interview Sunday, William Rukeyser, special assistant to state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, said that those losses could be more than offset by the district’s lower expenses for salaries during the strike.

During the 23-day-long teachers strike in 1970, the Los Angeles district reportedly lost $7 million in state funds based on student attendance but saved about $11 million in salaries.

The talks have been complicated by uncertainty on how much an enormous state tax windfall over the next two years will be available to raise teachers’ pay. Other issues include giving teachers more control over curricula and schedules.

Pay Offers

The last publicly announced position from the district offered an 8% retroactive raise for this year, between 5.5% and 8% next year, depending on state surplus funds, and 8% the following year. The union’s last public posture was for raises of 10%, 8% and 8%, although union leaders have indicated privately that 8%, 8% and 8% would be a good deal.

Starting pay for Los Angeles teachers is $23,440 and the current top is $43,319, although that amount can be raised by extracurricular and summer school duties. A state fact-finder’s report released last week described Los Angeles Unified salaries as among the highest in the state.

STRIKE HOT LINES District telephone hot lines open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

General strike information: 213-625-KIDS.

High school information: 1-800-345-GRAD.

Adult education information: 213-62-LEARN.

District’s 24-hour recorded telephone hot line updated daily.

English: 213-625-4000.

Spanish: 213-625-4643.

The union has a hot line for teachers only, which is not made public.