Agreement is a win for 'Red for Ed' movement
The Massachusetts Teachers Association today congratulated the members of United Teachers Los Angeles for fighting — and winning — for their students, their schools and their community.
UTLA’s 30,000 members, who went on strike Jan. 14, announced Tuesday that they had reached a tentative agreement that would address many of the issues facing their students.
UTLA agreement will benefit students
The new contract will:
- Start to reverse ballooning class sizes in the Los Angeles public schools.
- Increase the number of crucial staff available to help students, such as librarians, nurses and counselors.
- Roll back punitive security searches of students.
- Establish dozens of community schools that can help address social and health issues of families beyond the classroom.
- Lay the groundwork for capping charter schools and high-stakes testing.
- Educators’ pay would also increase under the contract, but the gains for students were key to the proposed resolution.
“The educators in Los Angeles demonstrated courage and commitment,” said MTA President Merrie Najimy. “They recognized the injustice their students faced because of inadequate resources for public schools and used the collective power of their union to confront and begin to correct that injustice.”
MTA Vice President Max Page said that UTLA members have furthered the “Red for Ed” movement, which began last year with collective actions by educators in Oklahoma, West Virginia and elsewhere.
“Public education is under assault, but unionized educators are defending it. UTLA, using its members’ solidarity and the remarkable community support they have built over many years, achieved a groundbreaking contract, with no concessions, that will bring improvements across the board to public schools in Los Angeles. This victory establishes a new benchmark for public school bargaining that focuses on the needs of our students and the common good. The MTA is newly inspired to keep working to ensure that students, families and communities have the public schools, colleges and universities they deserve,” he said.
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