The struggle today: Fighting for rights in 2016
Last October, when the Vice Principal of San Lorenzo High School called in the Alameda County Sheriff in an attempt to prevent CTA Organizer Memo Durgin from meeting with educators during their duty free lunch, SLEA and CSO knew we were in for a fight! One of the site reps at the meeting filmed the confrontation, with the video going viral on Facebook.
Over the course of the last year, San Lorenzo EA leaders and 15 or more CSO staff have been working side-by-side at work sites to engage members and parents, as part of SLEA’s contract campaign. Located between the union towns of Hayward and San Leandro, San Lorenzo is a small unincorporated area of about 23,000, with a large Latino population.
The bargaining dispute involves a salary increase that keeps San Lorenzo competitive
with surrounding districts so that quality educators stay in San Lorenzo. The District had 90 vacancies this year. Other issues include class size reduction for ELD students and
teachers receiving the same health care as administrators.
The overarching issue is insisting that teachers receive overall respect from Superintendent Fred Brill and the school board majority, who seem intent on polarizing the entire community.
As you might expect from such a situation, the District has stooped to new lows in their efforts to divide and intimidate members. These efforts have backfired. CSO staff have
recently concluded another round of site meetings as part of a big push for a very strong SLEA general membership strike authorization vote.
The results of that vote, announced on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 showed that 97% of San Lorenzo teachers authorized their leadership to call a strike, if needed, to secure the schools that San Lorenzo students deserve. Over 80% of San Lorenzo EA members participated in the vote. The fact-finding hearing will have occurred by the time you
read this.
If you see the San Lorenzo delegation to State Council, make sure you show them your support for their stand in support of the teaching profession and the students they serve.
Update: A tentative agreement was reached between SLEA and the District on February 4th. Read more here.
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