The Latest: Striking teachers rally in downtown Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a strike by Los Angeles teachers (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
Thousands of teachers striking the nation’s second-largest school district are rallying in downtown Los Angeles despite rain sweeping across Southern California.
The teachers plan to march from City Hall to the headquarters of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Teachers went on strike Monday after lengthy contract negotiations failed.
Superintendent Austin Beutner told a news conference that all 1,240 K-12 schools are open and students are safe and learning.
Beutner says about 3,500 people are protesting outside schools and those rallies have been peaceful.
The superintendent says the district is ready to resume bargaining anytime.
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9:50 a.m.
The Los Angeles Unified School District says all elementary, middle and high schools are open despite a strike by the teachers union.
Superintendent Austin Beutner tells KCBS-TV it will be a normal day, with buses picking up students who will be learning.
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles started picket lines Monday morning after lengthy negotiations with the nation’s second-largest school district failed.
Some parents and their children have joined teachers protesting outside schools.
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7:40 a.m.
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are striking after contentious contract negotiations failed in the nation’s second-largest school district.
Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted last year to walk off the job for the first time in 30 years if a deal wasn’t reached on issues including higher wages and smaller class sizes. The strike began Monday.
Months of talks between the union and Los Angeles Unified School District ended without a deal.
Schools will stay open. The district has hired hundreds of substitutes to replace teachers and others who leave for picket lines.
The district says the union’s demands could bankrupt the school system. It’s projecting a half-billion-dollar deficit this budget year and has billions obligated for pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers.
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9:30 p.m.
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles teachers are planning to strike Monday.
The teachers’ union rejected an offer Friday from the LA Unified School District, calling the proposal “woefully inadequate.”
The district proposed a 6 percent salary increase over the first two years of a three-year contract.
The United Teachers Los Angeles says it wants a 6.5 percent hike that would take effect all at once and be retroactive to fiscal 2017.
With no new talks scheduled, pickets are likely to begin at 7 a.m.
Schools will remain open. The district hired substitutes to replace staffers who leave schools for picket lines.
