For the third day in a row, picketers chanted before dawn at a Los Angeles Unified School District bus yard — this time, it was the BD Bus Yard on 17th Street — as the Service Employees International Union Local 99 strike again humbled the nation’s second-largest school district on Thursday, March 23.
The projected three-day walkout would end Friday, union officials said, when 30,000 bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, instructional aides and special education assistants would return to work.
But there was no still sign of an agreement, despite L.A. Mayor Karen Bass jumping into the labor dispute on Wednesday.
Negotiations will continue, with Bass’ office saying the mayor “will continue to work privately with all parties to reach an agreement to reopen the schools and guarantee fair treatment of all LAUSD workers.”
Max Arias, Executive Director of SEIU Local 99 issued the following statement: “We are grateful that the Mayor has stepped in to provide leadership in an effort to find a path out of our current impasse. Education workers have always been eager to negotiate as long as we are treated with respect and bargained with fairly, and with the Mayor’s leadership we believe that is possible.”
Related: LAUSD strike: School closures may harm students’ progress – but also be a teachable moment
The union planned a press conference at the Banneker Career Transition Center in San Pedro at 7 a.m. and a rally at the Los Angeles State Historic Park at 1 p.m. as well as pickets around the city during the day.
The district thanked Bass for her involvement and assured parent it was doing “everything possible” to arrive at a deal.
A statement said the district was striving to “reach an agreement that honors the hard work of our employees, corrects historic inequities maintains the financial stability of the district and brings students back to the classroom,” stated the district on Wednesday. “We are hopeful these talks continue…
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