Oakland Teachers Strike Update

I mentioned the Oakland teachers strike a few days ago, where workers were rejecting big wage gains in favor of a social justice unionism that would require the city to invest in the community, especially the poorest residents.

Well, they have come to a tentative agreement on the social justice part of the deal:

“We have an agreement around supports for unhoused students, our Black thriving community schools, and school closures,” Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, the vice president of the Oakland Education Association, told CNN affiliate KGO.

Teachers went on strike on May 4 after contract negotiations with Oakland Unified School District, in which they were seeking higher pay and more efforts to address social concerns, failed to yield a deal.

The union said that no deal has been signed to end the strike as they are still actively negotiating an agreement on teacher salaries, special education programs, and class sizes.

The school district said it was pleased to have reached an agreement on common good issues. “OUSD appreciates the collaborative nature of the discussions and the effort of the OEA members involved to reach these agreements,” the district said in a statement to KGO.

“We are making good progress and will keep our families and community updated throughout the night,” the Oakland Unified School District said in a statement to CNN on Sunday.

The first “common good” agreement, “Housing and Transportation,” stipulates that the union and the school district will collaborate on support for unhoused and housing insecure students and expand access to free bus passes for qualifying students.

The second agreement, “Community Schools Grant,” regulates shared governance for “community schools” that receive funding from the California Community Schools Partnership Program.

The third agreement, “Black Thriving Community Schools,” provides support for “Historically Black Schools” in which 40% or more of the student population is Black.

The fourth agreement, “School Closures,” specifies a process the district must follow before closing a school.

This is really quite remarkable. This is a big shift from an old-school unionism only concerned with wages and benefits. Actual support for low-income and Black students outside of the traditional union structure is great. And I mean, it makes sense. If you have homeless students, learning for them is so hard and that becomes an issue in the entire classroom. And then finding space in the contract to explicitly address histories and realities of racism in the city….wow. This is good stuff. More of it please.