In response to concerns around COVID-19 safety and inadequate pay, teachers, janitors, bus drivers and other district workers at Sacramento City Unified School District could be walking off the job this month.
On Thursday, the Sacramento City Teachers Association and Service Employees International Union Local 2021 — which represent 2,800 of the district’s teaching-credentialed staff and 2,100 of its non-credentialed staff, respectively — announced that over 90% of members voted to authorize a strike.
When asked to characterize the likelihood of teachers striking, SCTA president and second-grade teacher David Fisher said “it’s all up to the district.”
“That’s a question for them,” he said during a press conference announcing the results of the vote.
An approved strike authorization doesn’t mean workers are walking out immediately. It just gives union leadership power to call a strike without an additional vote.
After the announcement of the vote, SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar sent out an email to district staff and families responding to concerns about a potential strike, saying that it would hurt students, families and employees.
“After nearly three years of interrupted learning due to COVID-related school closures, illness, and quarantines, it is heartbreaking that SCTA and SEIU union leadership is planning a strike that would hurt our students and cause unnecessary disruptions in our community,” Aguilar wrote. “This strike is hurtful to all of our families that have been waiting for their children’s school experience to get back to normal.”
The possibility of a strike comes amid a staffing shortage at SCUSD, worker concerns about the district’s handling of conditions during the pandemic and stalled negotiations between the teachers’ union and the district.
Staffing shortages also resulted in the extension of the SCUSD vaccine requirement for students to after the end of June and the 2021-22 school year.
“The district does not have staffing capacity to enroll the remaining 2,330 students that have not been vaccinated,” a March 9 SCUSD press release reads.
And while staffing shortages are visible at districts throughout the state and country, Fisher says even before the pandemic SCUSD struggled to retain staff and district leadership. He says calling for a five-year wage freeze for staff with teaching credentials and pay cuts in annual take-home pay has exacerbated problems.
He estimates the district has about 250 vacant teacher positions and has seen at least 100 resignations that could take effect at the end of the year.
“A lot of that is in contrast to, for example, Elk Grove — they had a big hiring fair last week … and many of our teachers went,” he said. “Our district continues to demand really, unbelievably huge cuts in teacher compensation, which, obviously, economics 101. That's not how you deal with a staffing shortage.”
In a SEIU Local 1021 press release, school psychologist and SCTA vice
president Nikki Milevsky said Aguilar created the current staffing crisis through his policies.
“A Band-Aid approach won’t fix it,” she wrote. “And bashing Sac City educators won’t attract new teachers to the district or help retain current staff.”
Workers have also alleged that the district has told COVID-positive workers to continue showing up to work.
In February, the district’s bus drivers held a rally to protest unsafe working conditions during the omicron surge.
They say staffing shortages haven’t just resulted in packed classrooms, but packed buses, despite initial social-distancing attempts to keep riders one seat apart.
“No kids are safe together,” said Jennifer Sharp, a long-time driver. “We have no protection, absolutely no protection at all.”
In response to the rally, the district sent out a press release that denied drivers’ claims. But on March 7, Cal-OSHA issued a citation to the district, identifying several violations of COVID safety and notification protocol.
Fisher says the SCTA will make a decision about striking after March 17, when workers also plan to hold a rally in front of the school board.
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