L.A. Teachers Union, District Reportedly Near a Deal

Los Angeles school district and teachers union negotiators are close to finalizing a contract that will give Los Angeles’ 34,000 public school teachers a 2% raise and end a lengthy contract dispute.

Sources close to the contract talks said negotiations have slowed over the length of the contract, whether the raise would be retroactive and how candidates in teacher training programs would be evaluated.

Schools Supt. Roy Romer would not comment on the terms of the contract. But he said Monday that “we are getting close, and I am very optimistic.... When you are in this stage, you just don’t talk about it until you’re done.”

United Teachers Los Angeles President John Perez did not return phone calls for comment. If union leaders agree to the contract, it must be ratified by a vote of union members.

School board members have indicated that they would support a raise for teachers despite what they said was lower than anticipated revenue from the state. They have not identified how the $80 million -- for a 2% pay increase -- would be funded.

Teachers throughout the district, meanwhile, began refusing Monday to supervise extracurricular activities or tutor students or do work that is outside their contract obligations.

The work-to-rule job action is the latest measure taken by the union to pressure Romer and the Board of Education to settle the contract dispute.

Last month, the union announced that one-third of the district’s teachers, principals and other employees had signed a UTLA petition that expressed no confidence in Romer’s leadership.

These tactics may not have been enough.

Earlier this month, teachers ousted several longtime union leaders, including Perez, in an election that many said was a response to the protracted contract talks. The new leaders, including A.J. Duffy, a special education teacher who was elected president, had supported higher pay raises.

At the time, Perez acknowledged that the negotiations had played a central role in his defeat. “I think people are upset over the fact that they haven’t had a contract,” said Perez, who will leave office July 1. “I think they want a more aggressive attitude toward LAUSD.”

The work-to-rule action, which began last week at some San Fernando Valley schools, rolled through the rest of the district Monday, although many schools are closed this week for spring break.

Union members were asked not to carry out unpaid extracurricular projects or activities. They were urged not to use their personal money for classroom supplies. And they were reminded to inform parents that “stalled contract negotiations have made this necessary,” according to the UTLA website.

For Leslie Schilo, a counselor at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, the job action means arriving at work later and leaving earlier.

Schilo said Romer “is not paying respectful attention to the teachers. All of the other districts have gotten their pay raises, and we have not.”

Mat Taylor, an English teacher at Fremont High School, said it was difficult for teachers to withdraw from their many after-school commitments, including tutoring students and meeting parents.

“We’re just trying to follow the letter of the contract,” Taylor said, “so that the school board gets the message that teachers put in a lot of extra hours.”

Taylor had a meeting scheduled Monday afternoon with a group of principals and his local district superintendent, Sylvia Rousseau. “I told them, I was sorry, I couldn’t attend the meeting because it was after school,” he said.

But, he said, “They agreed to pay [overtime to] all of us who are going to the meeting.”

School board member Mike Lansing said he sympathized with teachers’ concerns over their lack of a contract. But, he said, the work-to-rule action was not an appropriate response.

“It’s unfortunate that the teachers union chooses to use our students to solve an adult issue,” Lansing said. “I just don’t think punishing children and families ... is the answer.”