A strike was avoided for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest district in the country, for teachers, staff, and administrators on April 14th 2026.
LAUSD has undergone massive changes, including the leave of ex-superintendent Alberto Carvalho, due to allegations of involvement with AllHere, an AI education startup that committed fraud.
With Carvalho gone, unions had been speaking to acting superintendent Andres Chait, who aimed to avoid strike due to LAUSD family and student circumstances, noting that many families rely on LAUSD schools for support in meals, education, and childcare.
In addition, LAUSD’s main concern was the 4% drop of enrollment since the start of the 2025 school year. LAUSD feared enrollment would substantially drop if a strike were to occur.
However, unions continued to push for a strike, to jump-start and create successful labor negotiations. At first, the United Teacher Los Angeles (UTLA) Service Employees International Union (SEIU Local 99), and the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA/Teamsters 2010), had made little progress with the district, despite gaining support from local governments.
On March 27, LA City Council supported a resolution that noted “a first-year educator cannot afford the median rent anywhere in the City” and “one third of UTLA members are working a second job just to survive.” In addition, the resolution also brought to light how many SEIU members experience food insecurity and housing crisis.
The union’s demands were aimed toward bettering school life, not just for students but school staff.
Some of the union Demands included collective bargaining for:
- Fair livable wages, which would look like a 17% wage increase, and a starting wage of $80,000 for new teachers
- Smaller class sizes, and healthy staffing levels to support such classes
- Increased staff in departments of mental health and Special Education
- More work hours for classified staff to provide additional services to students on campus
LAUSD began holding meetings with union members to bargain, the week before April 14th until tentative agreements were reached.
On Sunday April 12th, AALA/Teamsters 2010 and UTLA reached tentative agreements with LAUSD. The agreement increases 11.65% salary gainings for union members through a 2-year contract, and the starting wage for first beginning teachers would be increased to $77,000 thousand dollars annually. In addition, they would increase mental health counselors for students on campuses, reduce Special Education class sizes, and allow for 4-weeks of district paid parental leave for staff.
However, strike was still impending for Tuesday April 14th, with closure of all LAUSD schools and Early Education Centers, since UTLA and AALA/Teamsters 10 agreed to stand in solidarity with SEIU Local 99, which still had not reached agreement with LAUSD.
SEIUU Local 99, representing teachers’ assistants, playground workers, special education assistants, bus drivers, gardeners, custodians, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers, early care and education workers, and others working in school offices, are part of the lowest-paid employees for LAUSD, where many members hold second jobs to meet livable wages.
Hence whyLocal 99 did not want to “…settle for less than [they] deserve.”
Therefore, bargaining continued through Monday night, where negotiations were ongoing, and the district prepared for school closure.
But around 2:30 am, Tuesday April 14th, Local 99 posted on social media:
“Because we stood united and ready to strike, we forced real movement and won a tentative agreement with major gains for education workers…Tomorrow: report to work as usual. ”
Local 99, reached agreement with LAUSD, where there would be increases in wages, increase in hours to protect against staff, increase in staffing, and a stop to IT layoffs across schools.
Strike was avoided for LAUSD, relieving many families who feared for child care, if strike were to occur.
Written by Monserrath Bucio Mondragon, News Editor