This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Teamsters Local 856 union voted against ratifying a proposed contract, members told Richmondside Tuesday. They will go on strike along with the United Teachers of Richmond union starting Thursday.
WCCUSD and Teamsters leaders had announced a tentative contract deal last week, so this rejection represents a significant blow, with now more than 3,000 district employees planning to strike. In addition to the 1,500 educators represented by UTR, there are 1,500 Teamsters whose jobs encompass clerical duties, food service, maintenance, paraprofessionals in special education and campus security.
Last week the Teamsters bargaining team accepted an offer by the district: a three-year contract that would have provided an ongoing 3% raise starting in year one, significant increases to the cash-in-lieu benefit and 90% paid medical benefits locked in for three years.
The offer was recommended through a non-binding fact-finding report, issued by the state’s Public Employment Relations Board, after the involved parties completed the state mediation process.
Although union representatives recommended the union approve the tentative contract, 52.8% of members who voted did not support it. Of the 1,156 members who voted, 526 said “yes.”
“While the vote results were mixed, it’s imperative that ALL Teamsters stand together on the picket line so that we can win together,” union representatives wrote in an email shared to members Tuesday evening.
About 96% of teamsters voted to authorize a strike in October after 10 months of stalled salary negotiations.
The Teamsters were initially asking for an 8% raise over three years, along with a number of proposals aimed at fixing long-standing issues in special education, such as hiring more staff, reducing caseloads, and adjusting assessment procedures.
In the contract offered, Teamsters did secure some of their requests, such as an increase in cash-in-lieu benefits, a heat illness prevention plan and expanding custodial work to summertime.
The contract also aimed to set guidelines around how and when the district can contract out work when it can’t find an employee to do it. A Teamsters’ analysis found the district’s practice of contracting out work, particularly in special education services, has cost the district far more than it would’ve cost to hire unionized staff, without any increases to the efficacy of those services. (The teachers union also commissioined a similar analysis.)
However, at a Teamsters meeting held Monday to review the proposed contract, the most commonly asked questions were regarding how members could still stand in solidarity with the teachers union — which may indicate why Teamsters voted against accepting the tentative agreement.
At that meeting, Matt Finnegan, a Teamsters rep who observed the state fact-finding panel, said union leadership recommended that members vote “yes” because they believe this is the most the district can afford to pay the union.
The Teamsters’ strike will also have impacts beyond those who work for WCCUSD. The national union represents a wide variety of employees outside of the district, including freight and delivery drivers (such as UPS) and solid waste and recycling workers, and they will likely honor the picket lines, union representatives previously told Richmondside.
WCCUSD representatives were not immediately available for comment, but WCCUSD school board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy said he isn’t surprised the Teamsters agreement was rejected because employees are more frustrated than ever.
In addition to the Teamsters and UTR strikes, the School Supervisors Association authorized a sympathy strike, meaning different supervisors and coordinators will use their legally-protected rights to support the teachers. The Adult School Teachers United union also told UTR their members will honor the picket line, Gonzalez-Hoy said.
“There might be schools where it’s just the side administrators (principals and vice principals) and the kids that come to school will be in the cafeteria doing work and be supervised,” Gonzalez-Hoy told Richmondside Tuesday night. “I think in those cases, central office staff will go to those schools to help staff.”
He also said that as of Monday night, only 200 substitute teachers had been hired, which won’t be enough to keep classrooms functioning as they typically do. However, the district did secure a private company that will deliver meals to school sites, so those resources are still available to students.
Gonzalez-Hoy said he is urging the district to secure a contract as soon as possible.
“I’m advocating with staff to come to a settlement and push for being creative and to find solutions with labor. But at the same time I am personally going to be supporting the picket line,” Gonzalez-Hoy said. “There’s this misconception that strikes are easy for the people doing them, and they’re incredibly hard. And (staff) will also not be making money during one of the hardest months of the year, and they’re ultimately advocating for better learning conditions for kids, right, not just for their own benefit.”
