On April 28, over 400 United Teachers of Los Angeles rank-and-file members and supporters marched and rallied to protest looming layoffs of 4,000 education workers in some of the city’s neediest schools. The multinational march and rally ended outside a school board meeting. The action featured a large number of parents and students who will be directly affected. The Party for Socialism and Liberation marched in the action in solidarity with the workers and students.
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The proposed cuts facing education workers will disproportionately affect schools that serve low-income students of color.
According to UTLA, money from the recent stimulus package could save teachers’ jobs for the 2009-10 school year and possibly beyond. But the district strongly opposed using available funds and, instead, threatened to lay off workers during a worsening economic crisis in which millions of people already lack jobs. Students would face even more crowded classrooms, fewer school programs, and an overall decline in the quality of education.
The protest, along with previous mass actions, pressured the school board members to come up with a new “compromise” plan to avoid layoffs for the next school year. Under this flawed proposal, teachers’ and education workers’ unions would have to match each dollar spent now with pay reductions later. It’s just another way to put off the problem.
The UTLA rank-and-file members will soon be voting on a work stoppage for May 15 in order to fight the pending cuts and pay reductions. If decisive action is taken, the union believes that jobs can be saved. This possible work stoppage is one of the best and only tools that workers facing layoffs have, and would go a long way in continuing a true fight-back strategy in a time when militancy is needed.
