The Oakland Education Association is gauging members’ interest in holding a one-day strike on May 1.
From today until April 25, the union’s more than 2,500 teachers, social workers, counselors, and nurses are voting on whether to authorize the OEA president to call a strike. The strike would be over unfair labor practices and could tentatively fall on May 1, International Workers’ Day.
The union alleges that Oakland Unified School District leaders are not responding to OEA’s requests for financial information about recent budget cuts. OEA and OUSD are bargaining over the potential impacts of budget reductions the school board approved this year that could result in multitudes of teachers losing their jobs.
“We have had a host of different back-and-forths with the district and the county to try to get as much information as we could to be prepared to bargain,” said OEA president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer. “Our job is to try to advocate on behalf of our members to ensure that the impacts to students are minimized.”
The board later approved a set of alternative budget adjustments to cap spending on outside contracts and administrator salaries, but the county oversight trustee put the decision on hold for further review.
The strike vote comes at a time when the district is facing some uncertainty in leadership. The school board has been in discussions about the superintendent’s contract, with one school board member alleging that the board is trying to end Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell’s contract early. School board president Jennifer Brouhard has said that the board has not taken a final vote on the superintendent’s contract. Johnson-Trammell has not addressed the reports.
In 2023, OEA went on strike for over a week while bargaining a new contract and won a substantial raise. The year before that, the union held a one-day unfair labor practice strike over school closures, protesting that the district had not bargained over the impacts of the closure decisions. After that action, OUSD filed a complaint that OEA violated labor law by striking before reaching an impasse. The Public Employee Relations Board decided in OEA’s favor. An appeal of that decision is pending.
Prior to 2022, OEA held a weeklong strike in 2019 while bargaining over a new contract.
The union wants to avoid striking again, Taiz-Rancifer said. “What’s really harmful is that we’re having cuts to school sites that impact services to their kids,” she said.
Oakland Unified released a statement on Thursday, April 17.
“OUSD has learned of a possible work stoppage planned by the Oakland Education Association set for May 1, 2025. This comes less than two years after the District and OEA reached a historic contract agreement. We remain committed to transparency and open communication with OEA. We are hopeful that we can work together to find solutions and ensure a strong finish to the school year for all Oakland students.”
Source: oaklandside.org
