Teaching Assistants Strike Over Health Benefits, Working Hours

Between 600 and 1,200 teaching assistants in the Los Angeles Unified School District walked off their jobs Wednesday as their union vowed daily “rolling strikes” at different schools until demands for health benefits and minimum working hours are met.

The strike, which targeted 119 schools in Central Los Angeles and the east San Fernando Valley, failed to bring education to a standstill.

But teachers in bilingual classes who depend on the assistants to translate for non-English speaking students said the strike disrupted instruction. About 70% of the 10,000 teaching assistants are bilingual and many work in schools with a high concentration of students who don’t speak English.

“Today has been chaotic,” said Carol Strumpf, who teaches at Langdon Avenue School in Sepulveda and is a 27-year district veteran who speaks little Spanish. “When they are not here, we feel it sorely.”

“I speak a little Spanish by now but in big classes TA’s (teaching assistants) are absolutely necessary,” said Belmont High School teacher Beatrice Buocz. About 200 teaching assistants from the various schools marched in front of Belmont, chanting “ Si se puede “ (“Yes we can”) and carrying signs that read “LAUSD Unfair to Teacher Assistants.” The assistants won union representation in January by Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union and have been negotiating for a contract ever since. Talks broke down Tuesday, after the district rejected a proposal, which, among other things, would have guaranteed a minimum four-hour workday so the assistants could qualify for medical benefits.

District officials, who have maintained that financial constraints limit their flexibility in meeting union demands, downplayed the effect of the strike.

“Parents should send their children to school, teachers will be teaching and the majority of teacher assistants will be on the job,” said Diane Munatones, a spokeswoman for Supt. Bill Anton.

While some teachers voiced support for the plight of their assistants, they are forbidden by their contract from honoring the strike. United Teachers-Los Angeles, the powerful teachers union, has warned that teachers who refuse to cross picket lines may face administrative action.

“I certainly hope Local 99 knows what it’s doing, they are not going to bring the system to a halt,” said union President Helen Bernstein.

But 20-year-old Tigran Demirjian, an Armenian teaching assistant at Grant Elementary School in Hollywood, expected his absence to cause problems. Demirjian works in a classroom filled with Armenian students, most of whom left the Soviet Union within the last year. He says his teacher speaks only a few words of Armenian.

“Without me the class is almost unteachable,” Demirjian says. “The only thing the teacher can maybe do today is math.”

The number of assistants who walked off their jobs appeared short of the 2,000 that union officials had predicted. Estimates by union and schools officials ranged from 600 to 1,200.

School officials at Belmont estimated that up to half of the school’s 20 teaching assistants stayed away. Langdon Principal Daniel Balderrama said fewer than 10 of the 38 teaching assistants took part in the strike.

Union officials said the teaching assistants will strike the same 119 schools today, but will target other schools later.

Some of those who took part in Wednesday’s strike said many of their colleagues opted to work because they could not afford to lose the pay, currently $9.44 per hour. Others said they were torn between striking and remaining loyal to their teachers and students.

Both sides have agreed on raising salaries by 8% to $10.20 per hour. Teaching assistants can make more if they pass two language proficiency exams and earn college credits. Both sides have also agreed on granting teaching assistants the right to appeal firings to the district’s personnel commission. Previously, the assistants could be fired at will by school principals. Still at issue are minimum hours worked per day, health benefits and paid days off.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to reaching a settlement is the union demand for a minimum four-hour work day.

In August, the state Public Employment Relations Board filed a complaint against the school district alleging that the district violated labor law by unilaterally cutting the work schedule of teaching assistants from six to three hours per day in retaliation for the assistants’ decision to affiliate with a union.

An administrative law judge is scheduled to hear the complaint in January.

The district argues that the scheduling and hiring of teaching assistants is decided by school principals, with recommendations from parent advisory groups. Schools may use state and federal funds to hire teaching assistants or pay for other services, such as counselors or campus security workers.

The shortage of bilingual teachers is so severe in Los Angeles that district officials estimate that it will take more than 10 years to hire the number needed to accommodate the 200,000 or so students who are learning English.

Times staff writer Bob Baker contributed to this story.

TEACHING ASSISTANTS DISPUTE UNION DEMANDS Paid Leave: 15 days Job Security: Permanent status and a minimum guarantee of four hours of work each day; layoffs by seniority and right to transfer based on seniority. Health Benefits: Premiums fully paid with option to purchase family coverage. Salary and Career Advancement: Hourly salary ranging from $8.24-$17.44; no college requirement; college tuition reimbursement up to $300 per year. Grievance Procedure: Review by neutral arbitrator for discipline or termination. Contract: One year. DISTRICT OFFER Paid Leave: Four days Job Security: Individual written contracts with some hours guaranteed. Health Benefits: Medical benefits for those who work four or more hours per day; employees would pay 50% ($680 per year). Salary and Career Advancement: Hourly salary ranging from $8-$11.50 based on college courses completed; bilingual differentials ranging from 28 cents to 75 cents per hour; 15 college units per year required to maintain employment. Grievance Procedure: Review by Personnel Commission staff with the right to have a union representative present. Contract: Three years.