This article was updated to clarify that the Teamsters contract is tentative pending ratification by members.
At 2:54 a.m. Wednesday, the United Teachers of Richmond announced a tentative agreement with WCCUSD that calls for an 8% raise over two years and brings the district’s first-ever strike to a close, pending ratification.
Schools remain open but operations are expected to go back to normal on Thursday. Teachers can take today to pick up keys and equipment and prepare, said union President Francisco Ortiz in an email to the community.
The strike lasted four days, with nearly daily community rallies of 1,000 attendees or more, keeping the pressure on.
The agreement comes after a 12-hour negotiating session on Tuesday and 10 months of bargaining that initially saw the district offer a 0% raise. The teachers had initially asked for 10% and revised that to 9% before settling on the current offer.
“We know our work is not done. While we didn’t win everything we deserved, this strike allowed us to imagine our classrooms as they truly should be with staffing levels high enough to give every student the attention they need,” Ortiz wrote in his email. “On this foundation we’ve built today —we can fight for and win — the smaller class sizes we deserve tomorrow.”
Raechelle Forrest, WCCUSD spokesperson, said the tentative agreement is “framed around the school board’s counterproposal which includes salary and healthcare increases in addition to addressing several other contractual items.”
“We are relieved that the strike is over and our students and teachers will be reunited in the classroom on Thursday,” Forrest said in an email sent at 6:41 a.m. “Details of the agreement are forthcoming. The tentative agreement must still be ratified by UTR members and formally ratified by the Board.”
The tentative contract gives members 100% fully paid family health benefits by June of 2027; salary increase for special education staff to help reduce the district’s reliance on independent contractors and remote teachers; retention bonuses for special ad and for educators who are WCCUSD graduates.
Other highlights include:
- International Academy Class size cap of 25 students;
- Protections for international teachers that include district sponsored pathways to permanent residency for educators who obtain clear credentials, as well as support for newly arrived educators;
- Commitments to safe classrooms that ensure adequate space for our special education teachers and their students, appropriate and safe temperature control (range of 68-76 degrees) in new modernization projects and a roadmap to improvements in existing facilities.
The tentative agreement will still need to be ratified by a majority of the roughly 1,500-member union. The ratification process will begin today, Ortiz said.
“Once we ratify this agreement, we must use our collective power to align district staff and board members with our community’s vision for education justice in WCCUSD, and make it a reality,” Ortiz continued. “The next stage in our fight will require us to join forces with working people across our state as we organize and demand the full funding our schools and students deserve, and we are ready to continue that fight.”
Union members credited their success to not only their members, but also to the community members who stood beside them. During the strike, thousands of teachers, Teamsters, students, parents, and community allies turned out across the district to picket, rally, march, hold vigils, and attend bargaining sessions. The superintendent also was sent more than 6,000 emails from the community, the union said, urging them to settle a fair contract and invest in schools.
Amy Poynter, third-grade teacher at Madera Elementary, said the support from her school community — the staff, Teamsters, parents, students, and Rigo (the principal’s dog) — is what kept her going. On the last day of the strike, she said parents set up barbecue grills and the music teacher brought instruments to have a sing along with everyone on the picket lines.
“I’m exhausted after four days on strike. I miss my students, and balancing this with my own kids has been really hard,” Poynter told Richmondside. “But seeing this news gives me hope. It finally feels like people can see why we have been out there. We want a district that puts students first, supports the educators who love them, and does what it takes to attract and keep great teachers, and not rely on outside contractors.
“I’m so grateful to have today to prep, and I can’t wait to welcome my third-graders back into the classroom tomorrow,” Poynter continued.
Wendy Gonzalez, fifth-grade teacher at Downer Elementary, also celebrated the news.
“I am happy to get back to my babies,” Gonzalez told Richmondside via text. “Our victory shows the power of our collective! Our union fought long and hard. All our members put their all into this strike and we did it!!”
Gonzalez said she is going into her classroom today to prepare for students’ arrival on Thursday and to ensure “they get the high quality lessons that they are used to having from us teachers.”
“When the students come back, first I will check in and debrief with them, answer questions that they may have and then get back to their lessons,” Gonzalez said.
However, Mitzi Pérez-Caro, computer science and journalism teacher at Kennedy High, said she still feels activated and ready to continue the fight.
“Kennedy is one of our most underserved schools, so for me, it’s very personal,” Pérez-Caro told Richmondside. “Our kiddos get the brunt of everything that’s happening — the (teacher) vacancies, classes (being cut). So, it was a matter of standing up for them.”
She said while she is happy with the tentative agreement, she wished the union held out for a bit longer to get everything the teachers were asking for, especially the reduction in class sizes and the 10% salary increase.
“What we were asking for initially was already a compromise, in a sense, because inflation has just gotten so high that it’s really hard to afford a place to live here,” she said. “And when you’re thinking about bringing new staff, especially with sites like Kennedy that have the lowest retention, we need to do more to make teachers want to stay, right, and high quality teachers, not just somebody to fill in the class.”
Perez added that she hopes the real power of the strike is that the district will engage in meaningful negotiations moving forward and the union will not have to strike again, as Oakland Unified has had to — going on strike in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
On Wednesday, Kennedy High teachers and students are going to walk into the campus together “to rally together and show that we’re still in solidarity.”
“We know that the fight doesn’t end now, but we want to show the strength that we had together as a fight,” Perez added.
During the first two days of the strike, the teachers union picketed alongside the Teamsters Local 856 — a roughly 1,500-member union comprised of employees performing a variety of jobs, including clerical, food service, maintenance, paraprofessionals in special education and campus security. That union tentatively settled its contract over the weekend. Its members still must ratify it.
Over the course of the strike, other district employees also held “sympathy strikes” and did not cross the picket lines.
“This fight was not just about our contract; it was a battle for the future of public education,” Ortiz said. “At a time when there are ongoing attacks on our profession and our communities, we stood strong because we refuse to let our students suffer in under-resourced classrooms.”
Great article! I appreciate the contract details you included. As a neighbor to the Alvarado school, we spent time observing, marching and chanting with teachers and staff but I never knew what their demands were. I’m so proud of these teachers and everything they fought for and won for their community. Thanks again for your excellent reporting.
You are very welcome!
About the Teamsters: “That union settled its contract over the weekend.”
That’s not accurate. Their negotiating team has a tentative agreement, which needs to be voted on by the members. This is the same position they were in last week, before the members narrowly rejected that tentative agreement.
Their contract is no more settled than it was last week, and I think it is sloppy to report as if it were settled. I don’t think it is likely, but it is entirely possible that the Teamsters members will vote against this agreement as well. We don’t know yet, so don’t report as if you do. This is a pattern that we also saw with Richmondside reporting on Instagram last night before 6pm that the “strike appears over” and that the “District, teachers are signing tentative agreement” *several hours* before those things actually happened. Also, Richmondside reported on Nov 25th that the Teamsters had agreed to a contract, which we all now know was not actually true, resulting in their strike.
Please, slow down and stick to reporting on things as they happen, or after they happen, but not before they happen. This is the second time y’all have reported that the Teamsters have settled their contract, and we’ve already seen that at least one of those reports was false. We have plenty of sources of local gossip and rumors, and this community needs Richmondside to stick to reporting and journalism.
I see that the wording of the article has been changed, which makes the article more accurate, but also now makes it appear that I’ve misquoted the article. Does Richmondside not have a corrections policy? Changing the article without an note after it has been published is not transparent, and transparency is something that all of the Cityside publications claim to hold as a value.
If you don’t have a corrections policy, UWM’s Center for Journalism Ethics https://ethics.sjmc.wisc.edu/2024/12/13/correcting-the-record-experts-weigh-in-on-ethical-news-corrections/ has some guidelines on creating one, including the “trust kit” https://trustingnews.org/trustkits/corrections/ from Trusting News. Here is a pertinent passage:
While the severity of the mistake might influence how we react and what our users see, this most important principle should apply: Our users should know we take accuracy seriously and if we get something wrong, we will correct it publicly and be guided by consistent policies and processes.
But that’s not always happening. Research shows fewer than half of U.S. adults say journalists admit and take responsibility for their mistakes at least some of the time. And people with low trust in the news cite a lack of faith in news outlets’ accuracy and the perception that journalists don’t own up to their errors as part of the problem.
So what can journalists do?
First, we recommend you get on the record with your corrections policy. Then, share it publicly, and point to it each time you make a correction or a clarification.