Oakland teachers strike day 6: District pushes back on ‘common good’ measures

The Oakland teachers strike continued Thursday after a more contentious turn the day before, as allegations of misleading figures, canceled board meetings and a doubling-down against the “common good” proposals left the labor battle perhaps more muddled and messy entering its second week than it was in its first.

For the sixth day in a row, thousands of teachers — joined by parents, students and some community members — filled early morning picket lines outside schools. They then gathered for a “mega picket” rally in the afternoon at Glenview Elementary School on La Cresta Avenue.

Negotiations between the Oakland Education Association and Oakland Unified had not resumed as of Thursday afternoon, after the two sides seemed to have pushed further apart Wednesday despite promising weekend developments towards an agreement.

While the general consensus was that the major hang-up was based on the union and district’s fundamental disagreements on common good measures, which seek to address racial equity, homelessness and environmental justice for students across the city, teachers also alleged they were given misleading information by the district — and that only 44% of union members would receive the hoped-for 22% salary bump in the latest proposal.

Despite those claims, OUSD Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in a video posted Wednesday night that the sides “appear close to an agreement on a robust package which would give teachers a historic raise.” She acknowledged that only “some teachers” and OEA staff would receive a 22% raise under the latest proposal.

The school board had scheduled a regular meeting Wednesday at La Escuelita Elementary school, with a conference with labor negotiators to give the public an update on the agenda. Although the meeting was canceled just hours before, the union rallied outside the school during the afternoon.

The district still managed to get its message across Wednesday evening in a bulletin, in which it provided a push-back against the common good measures and claimed that full implementation of the union’s demands would cost the district more than $1 billion. The union alleges the true cost of their demands would be closer to $500,000.

“The remaining issue is how best to work on the common good proposal, which seeks to assign the school district with addressing such broad societal issues as housing for homeless and drought-tolerant landscaping,” she said. “While the district agrees that these issues should be addressed, and we are already working on many of them, the issues cannot be tackled by school district budgets alone.”