For the first time in 47 years, San Francisco public school teachers marched the picket line on Monday to strike as schools closed to the district’s 48,000 students.
The San Francisco Unified School District and the United Educators of San Francisco have not agreed on a labor contract, despite bargaining since last March and early signs educators were willing to strike. Earlier this month, 97.6% of members authorized the union to call one. After mediators released a fact-finding report on Thursday, the union announced that without an agreement over the weekend, its roughly 6,000 teachers would strike on Monday.
Mayor Daniel Lurie and Rep. Nancy Pelosi attempted to intervene at the 11th hour, but the strike was on. The United Administrators of San Francisco, whose principals and administrators recently came close to striking, and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 representing clerical and janitorial workers joined the strike in solidarity. The San Francisco Labor Council is directing its members not to cross the picket lines and to support the teachers’ action.
Pay and health care issues are driving the teachers’ willingness to strike. United Educators of San Francisco is pushing for a 9% wage increase over two years and fully funded health care for dependents. The school district first proposed a 4% wage increase over two years and partially funded dependent care. The union reports that members spend up to $1,500 monthly on insurance for dependents. Coupled with the high cost of living, that sends experienced educators to neighboring districts and destabilizes education, it argues.
District leadership contends that with $114 million in cuts this year to its $1.3 billion budget and a $59 million deficit expected next year, it cannot afford what the union is proposing. The union is also calling to use $111 million of a newly proposed special reserve fund, which the district says is needed for a financial crisis.
“I want to emphasize that this is about more than dollars and cents or health care costs,” union president Cassondra Curiel said in a statement. “Educators in surrounding school districts pay little or nothing for family coverage. This has made it difficult, nearly impossible, for SFUSD to recruit and retain educators, especially in areas of critical need like special education. Our students suffer from a staffing shortage of the district’s making.”
The neutral fact-finding report that largely favored the district’s views determined that 9% raises, coupled with full-funded dependent care would likely be rejected by the state overseers, who currently have authority to stop financial decisions they conclude would put the district at risk of insolvency. The report recommended a 3% wage increase effective last July and another 3% effective this July. It also advised funding dependent care through separate parcel taxes and reducing reliance on costly consultants.
The district then proposed a salary increase it said was equivalent to 6% over two years by adding two paid working days to the academic calendar, and $24,000 in health benefits allowances. But that was bundled with teachers’ concessions, such as curtailed preparatory periods and sabbaticals, according to the union.
The sides did make some progress. The proposed agreement designated San Francisco as a sanctuary district in the labor contract, and promised that use of AI would not reduce staffing or increase workloads, while training would be compensated.
Bargaining was continuing on Monday afternoon and schools will be closed Tuesday. The district struck a posture of engagement over the weekend, despite the unresolved differences.
“The SFUSD bargaining team continued to provide additional creative solutions that directly respond to UESF’s stated priorities, and are based on the recent neutral fact-finding report,” Superintendent Maria Su said in a statement Saturday night. “I am encouraged by our shared commitment to support immigrant students and families, which led us to a tentative agreement on sanctuary district policies. We remain ready to work on reaching a full agreement with UESF.”
The last strike, in 1979, lasted six weeks.
