4 strike votes in 5 years: A look back at Sacramento City Unified labor disputes

Sacramento City Unified School District teachers are poised to strike — again.

The Sacramento City Teachers Association authorized a strike earlier this month, with hundreds of teachers anticipated to walkout March 23.

It was only three years ago that crumbling labor negotiations led to hundreds of Sacramento City teachers leaving classrooms on strike. The one-day strike in 2019 was the first time in 30 years teachers in the district walked picket lines.

Repeated clashes over contracts between the teachers’ union and Sacramento City Unified officials, combined with unprecedented challenges stemming from the pandemic, have led to repeated threats of labor strikes.

Over the last five years, teachers in the union have voted to authorize strikes or sympathy strikes four times. A vote to authorize a strike does not mean a walkout is guaranteed, but it allows union leadership to call for a strike if an agreement can’t be reached with the district.

Here’s a rundown on recent labor disputes and strike votes at Sac City Unified.

2017 — salary dispute

After about a year of disagreement over compensation during contract negotiations, Sacramento City Teachers Association members voted to authorize a strike in October 2017.

The core conflict was centered on increasing wages. While the district had initially agreed to raise teacher pay by 6%, union officials said the increase would still leave district teachers with a lower pay rate compared to similar school districts in California.

To avoid a strike, a deal was brokered by Mayor Darrell Steinberg, school district Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the teachers union over a weekend in November 2017.

Under that contract, salaries for teachers would increase by 7.5% by 2018, with an additional 3.5% adjustment to teachers with mid-range salaries.

But just weeks later, county superintendent of education Dave Gordon told school board members that the district would struggle to pay for the contract and maintain fiscal solvency. Millions would need to be cut from the 2019-20 school year budget to avoid a structural deficit, but reductions were not made.

2019 — district faces financial crisis

By 2018, the district faced a financial crisis. Under the threat of a potential state takeover, Sacramento City Unified needed to close a $35 million budget gap.

Independent auditors found that while the salary increases weren’t solely to blame for the district’s fiscal woes, the deal was the tipping point for when its financial outlook darkened.

The district needed to make deep cuts.

It looked at switching healthcare plans to potentially save millions and alleviate the the district’s deficit. But the teachers union argued the 2017 contract agreement stipulated any savings to go strictly toward reducing class sizes and funding more health workers and counselors.

The district and teachers union also disagreed on how to interpret the contract’s stipulated 3.5% raise for mid-career teachers. The district argued that the union’s interpretation of the raises — ultimately backed in court arbitration — would increase the cost beyond what the district had originally agreed on.

In March 2019, the teachers union authorized a strike, alleging unfair labor practices and arguing the district was reneging on its collective bargaining agreement. A month later, for the first time since 1989, teachers at Sacramento City Unified went on strike, with more than 2,000 teachers walking the picket line during the one-day strike.

2021 — disagreements over reopening

After a year of distance learning necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, Sacramento City Unified School District began reopening its school campuses for some students and staff.

SEIU Local 1021, which represents maintenance workers, bus drivers, instructional aides and other staff members, overwhelmingly rejected the district’s proposal for how to return safely.

The union and district officials struggled to agree on terms related to child care, stipends and physical distancing guidelines.

SEIU Local 1021 authorized a two-day strike in April 2021, and the Sacramento City Teachers Association pledged their support to join with a sympathy strike. SEIU Local 1021 ultimately called off the strike, but unions representing district employees and Sac City Unified officials have continued to clash over pandemic-related issues.

2022 — pandemic challenges continue

Sacramento City Teachers Association, along with SEIU Local 1021 which represents other school staff members, authorized a strike earlier this month.

The labor organizations threatened to walkout if district officials continue “to negotiate in bad faith on key issues related to staffing, the quality of instruction, and health and safety protocols.”

Union leadership stated that the district is failing to meet challenges related to lingering effects of the pandemic, despite an influx in COVID-19 relief funding from the state and federal government.

The organizations argued a teacher staffing shortage is leaving hundreds of students without a full-time teacher or substitute each day and students enrolled in independent study programs are not receiving adequate instruction.

The teachers union characterized the district’s contract proposal as one that seeks “a five-year wage freeze for certificated staff and a $10,000 cut in the average educator’s annual take-home pay ... through cuts to health benefits targeting SCUSD employees with families.”

District officials contest the union’s characterization of the proposals. The district has offered special pay incentives for teachers, nurses and substitutes who’ve taken on extra tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 5:00 AM.