For years, many people have known that teachers are underpaid for the work they do and that they still struggle from time to time to provide supplies and materials for their classes. 

Teachers don't really mention to students these difficulties they face as they continue to work with what they have to provide their students with the best learning environment. However, for teachers at South East High School and throughout the Los Angeles Unified School district, a looming strike appears to be the result of these unfair challenges for the educators. 

History teacher Mr. Gonzalez, who is co-chair of the South East chapter of the teacher’s union (United Teachers Los Angeles), shared the reasons for the potential teacher strike. He said that one of the main goals of the ongoing negotiations is to begin “raising salary for educators about 18% within a year and year 2 about 3% more, supporting special education, improving ratios for psychiatric social workers, even pupil services and attendance counselors.” 

Along with those demands, the union also is demanding paid parental leave, increase in art and physical education prep time and limited subcontracting. 

”The district and our union have yet to reach agreements on most of the items listed,” Gonzalez explained about the demands. “We have been out of contract all year and have been working without one. The purpose of our strike is to demonstrate and voice our views while also showing unity amongst members.”

On March 18, over 30,000 teachers from across the district rallied at Grand Park to pressure the district to meet the demands from the union. At the rally, it was announced that if a deal between both sides could not be made, the teachers will strike on April 14.  

“We will be striking as long as it takes but historically, it has taken between 3 to 9 days,” Gonzalez shared. In 1989, the teacher strike lasted nine days as the most recent teacher strike in 2019 lasted six days. The strikes will have a high impact on the teachers and students.”It can highly impact our students. SBA, AP, SAT, tests are coming up and students need as much of our support. As an AP teacher, I am hoping we resolve things soon to avoid the strike¨. 

Parents and students rely on services that the school provides and the strike would disrupt that. For example, some of our students rely on our hot breakfast and lunches every day during the week. Furthermore, special needs students may not have caregivers during the day because their parents need to work. This will highly impact those families who rely on the school for these services.

With the potential strike looming, some teachers are concerned about the effects of it. Spanish teacher Ms. Molina shared her concerns about the potential strike.

“I feel like it's very impactful and important of the strike on how it can make an effect towards the whole school around us,” she said. “I would like to do it but it's not very easy to do since it's a lot of hard work, mandatory with the screams [during the demonstration] and everything needed for the strike which takes the whole day or even more. I have been a part of this strike before and it was worth it; [I was] scared at first but I overcame it and shared my voice to present my job. But mostly it is going to be beneficial for us since its allows us to get more supplies, money ,devices and other incredible things the school and students here so they can learn better than ever.”

English teacher Mr. Mendo said it’s always shocking that it gets to the point of the strike.

“If I ever have to join in on the strike I would like to do it because I have to,” he said. “I am a part of this school. I have been in a teacher strike before it was exhausting. But if the strike actually succeeds, it will benefit us on the first step in going forward on something. For me, the most challenging part of the teacher strike is losing days of teaching.”

Biology teacher Ms. Felix also shared her concerns.

“I am going to be on strike if I have to but do I want to, no,” she expressed. “I just want to be in my classroom. I have done the strike twice before in all of my teaching career. The strike has succeeded well and getting it done I think it will happen again if we all the teachers try.”

Some students at South East High School offered their views on the potential strike. 

“I support the teacher strike because they deserve way better pay and smaller classes so they can actually focus on helping us learn,” said freshman Peter Smith. "At the same time, it sucks for kids who rely on school meals or have nowhere else to go while their parents are at work. Honestly, I think it’s [the strike is] fair because my teachers are always stressed and deserve to actually afford their rent. But it also sucks for us students because missing class makes it way harder to keep up with our credits.” 

Sophomore Bowen Higgins believes teachers deserve to have the supplies they need to teach without struggling for that support. 

“If the teacher does their job and puts in a lot of effort and doesn't get paid, they should protest to get paid more and make it fair,” he said. “I think it's good but bad at the same time for teachers to strike because the teachers get to fight back and try to make things fair for their job. Even though they might not go to their job, it will affect the students and not be able to learn anything anymore. I don't know why there is going to be a strike but I would think it's for the rules. I also think it's because of the supplies, like chairs, tables and desks because some of them are broken and some students complain to their teacher about the issue they are experiencing.”

Junior Annabel Jacor also empathized with the struggles she sees from her teachers. 

¨I do support the strike, but for me, it's more about seeing how stressed the teachers are,” she said. “They deserve respect and better conditions since there are students in their class and everything. I think the strike is happening because they can’t keep up with the cost of living here in the school of probably how far their houses are from the school or something.¨

¨I have been in South East High School all these years, but I do support the teachers’ strike,” senior James Ron added. “I’ve seen how hard they work, and honestly, they really deserve better pay and smaller class sizes. I think it’s good because it’s a way for them to stand up for themselves—though I know it’ll be tough for us students.”

To show that this issue is happening beyond our school, a recent article on the teacher strike made by Howard Blume at the Los Angeles Times   highlights a similar teachers’ strike, explaining how educators across the country are fighting for better pay, smaller class sizes, and improved resources for students.

The teacher strike isn't just important for the teachers but also for the students, families and the community of LAUSD. The teachers and students have shared their perspectives on the potential strike, showing us how it's really important for the educators to receive a better pay for  better resources and improved working conditions in the classroom of South East High School and the entire LAUSD community. While this strike will force missed class time for the teachers, it will finally call out the problems that the union believes the district have been ignoring for years. While going on strike is never ideal, the teachers believe that will be the only way for LAUSD to meet them on a fair deal. Both sides have until April 14 to negotiate a deal before the strike takes place.