Last spring, three weeks before the end of the school year, Oakland teachers walked off their jobs, causing the cancellation of eight days of instruction. The Oakland Education Association charged that the school district was not bargaining in good faith, but both sides had already agreed to the same pay and benefits package that the union [later] ratified.
The union went on strike because the school board had balked at some locally unprecedented provisions requiring new initiatives on the environment, creation of social service-rich community schools, reparations for Black students, and housing for homeless families with children in schools.
The union returned to work after the district entered a memorandum of understanding on these demands. Though these are not formally part of the local collective bargaining agreement, the union can enforce the MOUs via the same grievance processes used to claim violations of the collective bargaining agreement , and possibly by work stoppages.
Increasingly, teachers’ unions in schools, universities and elsewhere are trying to use their bargaining power to influence broad areas of public policy. A national network is helping unions formulate “common good” provisions that call for measures ranging from tighter restrictions on charter schools to defunding police, requiring school districts to pay legal defense costs for immigrants, and eliminating questions about past felonies from public sector job applications. Other measures are more tightly tied to improving academic and learning conditions, such as increasing the number of diverse teachers and expanding culturally relevant curriculum .
In Oakland, as in Chicago (with a newly-elected union member mayor) and Los Angeles, teachers unions have celebrated making deals over matters meant to benefit Black and brown students and their families. At a time when unions have great leverage based on teacher shortages and favorable public opinion, advocates of common good bargaining can claim that everyone – teachers, low income families and progressives in general – wins.
But there are costs. Oakland union members’ pay and benefits (including a $5,000 one-time bonus for every teacher) did not improve during the strike, so every teacher forfeited eight days’ pay with no offsetting financial gains. Oakland students lost eight days of learning, not to be made up by keeping schools open longer in June or by mandatory summer school. When there are costs, there’s sure to be disagreements about the value of benefits and who pays.
The Oakland union has historically received strong support from parent groups, but it came under criticism for halting instruction again, three years after the pandemic initially forced school closures. Backlash came not only from privileged families organized as CA Parent Power but also from Oakland REACH, an association of low-income Black and brown parents that sponsors independent learning centers and also collaborates with the district on tutoring. Some parents and teachers took a while to catch on that the decision to strike was motivated by social policy agendas, not teacher pay or working conditions. Once the strike began, backlash grew against school closures – especially on behalf of younger children who have never had a full year of school. Public school supporters also worried that untimely school closures could worsen Oakland’s enrollment declines.
Affluent white and Asian families from the affluent Oakland “hills” issued letters saying that their children should not pay for common good provisions in lost days of learning. The Oakland REACH also challenged the Union’s claim to work in the best interests of Black and Brown families. Their CEO Lakisha Young also joined the Oakland school district as an OUSD parent seeking an injunction against the May strike, arguing that any gains in the form of common good provisions would come at children’s expense. The state agency responsible for hearing such petitions delayed considering the injunction (and a complaint from the OEA that the district was bargaining in bad faith) until the strike was over.
Though most parents kept their children home during the strike, a minority, including many in affluent areas, sent their children to school and demanded that teachers come to work.. As a result, some teachers at schools in the “hills” reportedly broke picket lines.
OEA’s strike and settlement raise the question, ‘how far can teachers’ unions go with demands for common good provisions?’ The answer will depend on the balance of benefits and costs. The Oakland school board might be able to pay to convert school buildings into homeless shelters, to transform immigration policy or arrange reparations for Black students. Then, if the results demonstrably benefit needy children and families, parent and community resistance evident to date could go away. Similarly, if union-negotiated common good provisions become rallying points for other advocacy groups and ambitious politicians, the union could have a stronger support base than ever before.
But, in a time of declining enrollment and budget cliffs, future school district leaders might not choose, or not be able, to deliver on promises made by the current school board. Or they may comply in form, but too weakly to produce tangible benefits. Then, parent groups critical of union tactics might gain traction. Unions could also be weakened if teachers split over whether to lose income due to work stoppages, or demand that union leaders return to focusing all their effort on teacher pay and working conditions.
The objectives of common good bargaining don’t have many natural enemies in liberal cities, but they can result in tradeoffs. Parents, who are not present at the bargaining table, may find their primary interests in keeping schools open for teaching and learning poorly represented. In districts where unions are militant about social causes, parents need to be vigilant about their kids’ needs, and union leaders should also be mindful of those needs lest they lose families’ support.
Don’t engage families: Liberate them
Lakisha Young
Senior Fellow