L.A. schools strike averted as deal reached; schools open Tuesday

A Los Angeles Unified School District strike has been avoided and schools are open Tuesday after the district and the Service Employees International Union reached a tentative agreement. 

SEIU Local 99, which represents about 30,000 aides, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers, said the deal with the district, LAUSD, includes a 24% wage increase.

The tentative agreement also increases work hours to ensure thousands of workers have health care benefits, rescinds layoffs for hundreds of IT technicians and expands health care benefits for teacher assistants and others, according to SEIU Local 99.

LAUSD said it will keep working with the union to finalize the details of the agreement, which SEIU Local 99 members must vote to ratify.

The deal announced early Tuesday comes after LAUSD and the unions for teachers and school administrators reached tentative agreements Sunday on new contracts.

Santos Robles, on SEIU Local 99’s negotiation team, previously said the two sides were arguing over a pay increase and more hours for part-time workers so they can qualify for health benefits.

“We have members that work two hours,” Robles said. “You can’t make a living there.”

He also said special education assistants often do physically demanding work that doesn’t show up on their timesheets, such as feeding and diaper changes.

A rally was held on Monday outside the Roybal Learning Center in downtown LA in support of SEIU.