SFUSD Educators End First Strike in Nearly 50 Years With Tentative Agreement
Union members cited rising health costs, staffing shortages and district spending priorities as drivers of the strike.
By Ellen Yoshitsugu
A tentative contract agreement between the San Francisco Unified District and its educators ended a weeklong strike early Friday morning, Feb. 13.
For the first time in almost 50 years, unionized educators went on strike over stalled contract negotiations, resulting in thousands of educators walking out starting on Feb. 9. Picket lines were heard across the city throughout the week, leaving more than 50,000 district students without schools.
Other SFUSD employees showed solidarity by participating in “sympathy strikes” staged at various locations across the city.
In two languages, Yi-Kwan Lee’s handmade picket sign depicted disappointment at the district, in the form of a “failing report card.”
“The negotiation has been really exhausting, [it's] going nowhere,” Lee, a Mandarin immersion teacher at Aptos Middle School, said during one of Monday’s rallies.
More than 80% of UESF members twice voted to authorize the strike.
Raised Requests
Educators insisted on pay raises, improved working conditions for special education paraprofessionals, and increased district contributions to employees’ dependents' health insurance.
“I don't think that's just.” Lee said she had many co-workers who “can’t afford groceries” and “have to take multiple jobs in order to take care of their children.” Lee herself has $1,500 deducted to cover her two children’s insurance.
Josh Davidson, the district’s chef and former head of the SEIU’s SFUSD chapter, pointed out that asking for a solidarity strike shouldn’t have been feasible for a lot of his co-workers because of low wages.
“Not getting paid for several days of work is a real hardship for them,” Davidson said. “We made the ask, and they stood up.”
Eric Cuneo hoped for better compensation so educators “can live in the city they serve.” Cuneo is the assistant principal at Ida B Wells High School and carried a picket sign over his shoulder.
“San Francisco espouses values of education, and we need to live our values,” Cuneo added.
The principals have a “me too” agreement whereby they will receive the same raises that the teachers get.
“I'm just here to support my teachers,” said Vanessa Pimental at Monday’s Civic Center rally. “I've seen a lot of my teachers from when I was in high school back in 2017.”
Pimental’s brother went “through schools being underfunded and not giving him the right resources to actually survive and get his high school diploma,” she said.
High caseloads for special education teachers contribute to staff turnover and make schools less stable. The district has proposed a joint committee to study the problem as of Feb. 11.
“The district must continue to reduce its reliance on outside consultants and thus reallocate the contracting out funds to programs that directly benefit their employees,” the mandated committee reported.
Money Moves
The district has insisted that these demands must be met by cutting elsewhere to stay within budget, such as reducing teacher compensation in other ways and raising class sizes.
The union says the district can spend some of its extensive reserves on current needs. They also want stronger sanctuary language and to formalize the district’s “Stay Over” program, which shelters unhoused families overnight.
“There’s a need for the district to wake up and understand that they haven't been meeting the needs of their staff for years now, and they can't hide behind their own incompetence forever,” Davidson said.
“It’s hard for me to trust an administration who has spent three years not taking care of making sure that their educators get paid on time,” said Brandee Marckmann, a parent activist running for the SF Board of Education in June, referring to the scrapped $40 million payroll software.