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Oakland Teachers Take Strike Vote, Accuse OUSD of Unfair Labor Practices

In a media release, the union announced that voting began on Monday: “Instead of negotiating a fair contract for the safe, stable, and racially-just schools our students deserve, OUSD has bargained in bad faith and broken labor law,” the union said. In a video statement on the OEA Facebook page, OEA Interim President Ismael “Ish” Armendariz announced the strike vote, which will be conducted for a week. Results will be tallied next Monday evening.

Published

1 year ago

April 26, 2023

Oakland Post

Oakland Education Association (OEA) bargaining team members at recent teacher rally. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

Members of the Oakland Education Association (OEA) are voting this week whether they are ready to go on strike against the Oakland Unified School District for “illegal, bad-faith bargaining.”

In a video statement on the OEA Facebook page, OEA Interim President Ismael “Ish” Armendariz announced the strike vote, which will be conducted for a week. Results will be tallied next Monday evening.

Armendariz asked members to authorize the unfair labor practices walkout “when it’s necessary.”

“OUSD’s bargaining team has negotiated in bad faith,” he said. “They cancel sessions and give unserious proposals. Unfortunately, this behavior is continuing, and we can’t trust OUSD to come with serious proposals to settle a contract.”

“Our members deserve a livable wage,” he continued. “Our students deserve the services they need to be successful. (The district has not) come to the table to bargain special education, have not brought proposals around our safety,” (nor) responded to union proposals to enhance benefits to families and the community.

Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA second vice president, said in a Facebook statement:

“OUSD is not only bargaining in bad faith, but their proposals are racist and create a separate and unequal salary schedule.” She also said the district has “ignored (its) legal obligation to bargain the impacts of closing special education classrooms with five weeks left in the school year.”

Prior to this week’s vote, OEA surveyed members to test their readiness to strike. Of the 80% of Oakland teachers who were polled, 90% said they were willing to strike.

Already ramping up strike preparations, the union has scheduled “merchant walks” on several weekends to reach out to the community, “art builds” to make picket signs at the OEA office and called a mass “fair contract” rally for next Wednesday.

On its website, OEA compares starting salaries of Oakland teacher with other major districts. First year teachers’ salaries are second to last in Oakland, earning $52,325 annually, while top-paying San Jose Unified has a beginning salary of $68,396.

The last contract between the district and OEA expired in October 2022. The district has been cutting the budget and is suggesting the possibility of closing, merging or consolidating schools to offer salary increases to teachers and other employees.

In a statement, the district said, “Because OUSD has finite resources for ongoing costs and must operate within a balanced budget, we are unable to do everything proposed by OEA. At the table, OUSD has expressed its desire to prioritize increasing compensation to improve educator retention and improving student outcomes.”

This week, the Los Angeles teachers’ union (UTLA), which often works cooperatively with the OEA, announced a tentative agreement with their district.

UTLA won a 21% salary increase for all members, overall class size reduction by two students across all grade levels, increased staffing and pay for counselors, psychologists and others, and more support staff and enforceable class size limits for special education.

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Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

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12 hours ago

July 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

July 20, 2024

Oakland Post

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Community Celebrates Historic Oakland Billboard Agreements

We, the Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition, which includes Oakland’s six leading community health clinics, all ethnic chambers of commerce, and top community-based economic development organizations – celebrate the historic billboard agreements approved last year by the Oakland City Council. We have fought for this opportunity against the billboard monopoly, against Clear Channel, for five years. The agreements approved by Council set the bar for community benefits – nearly $70 Million over their lifetime, more than 23 times the total paid by all previous Clear Channel relocation agreements in Oakland combined.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 13, 2024

Oakland Post

The Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition.

Grand Jury Report Incorrect – Council & Community Benefit

Unfortunately, a recent flawed Grand Jury report got it wrong, so we feel compelled to correct the record:

Regarding the claim that the decision was made hastily, the report itself belies that claim. The process was five years in the making, with two and a half years from the first City Council hearing to the final vote. Along the way, as the report describes, there were multiple Planning Commission hearings, public stakeholder outreach meetings, a Council Committee meeting, and then a vote by the full Council. Not only was this not hasty, it had far more scrutiny than any of the previous relocation agreements approved by the City with Clear Channel, all of which provide 1/23 of the benefits of the Becker/OFI agreements approved by the Council.
More importantly, the agreements will actually bring millions to the City and community, nearly $70M to be exact, 23 times the previous Clear Channel relocation agreements combined. They certainly will not cost the city money, especially since nothing would have been on the table at all if our Coalition had not been fighting for it. Right before the decisive City Council Committee hearing, in the final weeks before the full Council vote, there was a hastily submitted last-minute “proposal” by Clear Channel that was debunked as based on non-legal and non-economically viable sites, and relying entirely on the endorsement of a consultant that boasts Clear Channel as their biggest client and whose decisions map to Clear Channel’s monopolistic interests all over the country. Some City staff believed these unrealistic numbers based on false premises, and, since they only interviewed City staff, the Grand Jury report reiterated this misinformation, but it was just part of Clear Channel’s tried and true monopolistic practices of seeking to derail agreements that actually set the new standard for billboard community benefits. Furthermore, our proposals are not mutually exclusive – if Clear Channel’s proposal was real, why had they not brought it forward previously? Why have they not brought it forward since? Because it was not a real proposal – it was nothing but smoke and mirrors, as the Clear Channel’s former Vice President stated publicly at Council.

Speaking on behalf of the community health clinics that are the primary beneficiaries of the billboard funding, La Clinica de la Raza CEO Jane Garcia, states: “In this case, the City Council did the right thing – listening to the community that fought for five years to create this opportunity that is offering the City and community more than twenty times what previous billboard relocation agreements have offered.”

Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition

Native American Health Center	La Clínica de la Raza	West Oakland Health Center
Asian Health Services	Oakland LGBTQ Center	Roots Community Health Center
The Unity Council	Black Cultural Zone	Visit Oakland
Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce	Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce	Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce
Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce	Building Trades of Alameda County	(partial list)