Twin Rivers teachers return to classroom, will vote this week on union contract
Twin Rivers Unified School District teachers returned to their classrooms Monday, ending the union’s first-ever strike, a 12-day walkout motivated by what teachers described as untenable health care costs and unmanageable class sizes.
Twin Rivers United Educators President Brittoni Ward said the bargaining team started work at 9 a.m. Sunday. By afternoon they reached a tentative agreement that included 7% raises — landing between the union’s and district’s proposals of 10.5% and 4.7%, respectively — and fully-funded health benefits.
“It was incredible to cry, shout, hug — and then be able to tell our membership that they would be able to be in their classrooms today,” Ward said.
Teachers will vote on the proposed two-year contract between Wednesday and Friday, Ward said. In response to interview requests Monday, the district provided a statement confirming that teachers had resumed to classes as usual.
Drucilla Ramirez, a third-grade bilingual teacher at Madison Elementary and organizing chair for the union, said she walked into her classroom with some of her students’ parents Monday morning, a moment of relief after the 12-day strike.
“It seemed like an eternity since we had been in our classrooms,” Ramirez said. “It was just a really amazing moment, to know that the fight was worth it … knowing that we accomplished something that will change this community.”
The strike coincided with a seven-day walkout by teachers in the Natomas Unified School District, leaving tens of thousands of Sacramento-area students in classes staffed by substitute teachers, and in some cases, prompting parents to pull their children from school.
If the agreement is ratified, the first 4% of the wage increases would be paid retroactively to July 1 of last year, Ward said. And the teachers would receive a one-time, $4,000 bonus — pro-rated for part-time employees.
Health benefits represented a major point of contention in bargaining. During the strike, two teachers told The Sacramento Bee that they paid $1,400 to $1,500 per month. The 100% employer-paid Kaiser Permanente benefits in the proposed contract, Ward said, represents “life-changing money” for some of the union’s members. She noted that those benefits do not include vision or dental.
Under the proposed agreement, teachers would receive “overages” for teaching higher-than-standard class sizes of $300 per additional student per month. Teachers would receive additional pay for attending planning meetings for students in special education programs, Ward said. Speech-language pathologists would move to a higher pay scale. And a committee of union and district representatives will convene and make recommendations on class sizes and caseloads for the next contract.
On the picket lines, teachers from Twin Rivers and Natomas described high rates of turnover at their schools, and argued that higher compensation and better working conditions would reduce that attrition.
“The whole goal of this is so that we can recruit and retain credentialed educators that don’t want to just come here for a year,” Ward said. “Long-term subs and contracted positions have been the Band-Aid for way too long in this district.”
The two teachers’ strikes were just the latest in a series across Northern California, pushing school districts for higher wages and better health benefits.
Teachers in Dublin went on a weeklong strike earlier this month. Richmond teachers staged a four-day walkout in December. In West Sacramento, the teachers union and the school district have entered the fact-finding process — which could result in a strike next month.
Teachers are motivated, Ward said, by the realization that the challenges they face aren’t siloed to any one school district.
“It was just a long time coming,” Ward said. “Those before us — that had the bravery and the courage to go out there and hold the line — gave the rest of us the bravery to say, ‘We can do this too.’”
Every day of the strike was difficult, Ward said. But teachers forged new relationships across the district, and learned that they had backing from many of the families who attend Twin Rivers schools.
“I think eyes are on us nationwide,” Ward said. “It’s letting us know that our struggles are similar. And, you know, it can be done.”
