LAUSD averts strike, reaches tentative deal with support staff union

Los Angeles Unified kept its schools open after negotiators reached an agreement in principle with SEIU Local 99 around 2 a.m., stopping a strike that could have shut down the nation’s second-largest school system and disrupted nearly 400,000 students. The last-minute deal came after hours of pressure on the district, the union and families who were bracing for a breakdown in bus service, cafeteria operations, classrooms and other daily routines that depend on support staff.

SEIU Local 99 represents about 30,000 aides, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and other essential employees. The union said the tentative agreement included a 24% wage increase over three years, with 12% paid retroactively, along with protections against subcontracting, an end to some information technology layoffs and increased staffing. A major issue at the table was hours for part-time workers, a change the union said would help them qualify for health benefits.

The agreement also defused a broader labor standoff inside a district that had already seen its teachers and administrators reach tentative agreements over the weekend. Those two unions had said they would honor SEIU picket lines if no deal was reached, raising the possibility of a three-union strike in a system that had never seen all three go out at once. During the 2023 SEIU Local 99 strike, teachers joined the walkout for three days and only about 150 of LAUSD’s 1,000 schools remained open.

The stakes were heightened by the district’s financial strain. LAUSD has leaned on shrinking reserves after years of rising costs and the loss of pandemic aid, while leadership has also been unsettled by the federal search of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s home and district offices in late February and his later paid administrative leave. Parents and community groups had pushed publicly for a settlement before Tuesday’s deadline.

For North Slope Borough readers, the lesson is less about Los Angeles than about leverage. When a school system depends on aides, drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers, a contract fight can quickly become a family problem, reaching buses, meals and classroom schedules before most families have time to adjust. The LAUSD deal showed how much disruption can be avoided when districts have enough room, money and bargaining power to settle before the picket lines go up.