Los Angeles teachers speak out on political issues in strike
By
our reporters
16 January 2019
More than 33,000 Los Angeles teachers continued their strike for a second day, Tuesday. In spite of rain, tens of thousands arrived for a mass demonstration in downtown at the headquarters of the California Charter Schools Association.
While the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) works in collaboration with the school district, the mayor’s office and the state government to shut down the strike as quickly as possible, teachers are expressing strong sentiment to continue their struggle.
While teachers in Los Angeles are on strike, hundreds of teachers in Oakland announced they would launch a wildcat sickout this coming Friday while teachers in Denver, Colorado, will be voting on strike authorization this coming Saturday.
World Socialist Web Site reporters went to picket lines during the second day of the strike.
Alison is a senior at Phineas Banning High School. She denounced LAUSD and the state of California for being unable to serve students’ basic needs. “It’s ridiculous,” she said, “that we have to learn and be taught in this way. Our teachers come and work all day to teach us, are paid 6 hours for 8 plus hours of work, and still struggle to meet ends.”
She continued, “Sometimes kids don’t even have desks in their classes. My AP History class doesn’t have enough textbooks for the whole class and my AP Chemistry class doesn’t have enough text equipment for us to finish labs on time.”
Maria, a journalism teacher at Wilmington Middle School, responded to the call for a nationwide strike: “Yes, absolutely! We need to send a message that we know that we deserve better. We’re here to teach kids and we…