‘We’re ready to fight.’ Thousands of Fresno teachers gather for strike authorization vote
Addressing a crowd of around 3,400 teachers and their families, a Fresno union leader dramatically tore up the school district’s latest contract proposal on stage – a move that was met with cheers and applause.
Fresno Teacher Association President Manuel Bonilla also had a message for Fresno Unified School District leaders: “Tonight is when we say enough is enough.”
District teachers poured into the Fresno Fairgrounds on Wednesday night to rally in support of a strike authorization vote.
The gathering marks a step towards what could be the union’s first strike since 1978. If the union authorizes a strike, 4,000 teachers could walk out, causing significant disruptions to the instruction of nearly 74,000 students in Fresno Unified, California’s third largest district.
Union leaders say the district has made some movement on core issues but the sides have not come to a consensus on major issues such as class size reduction, special education caseload reduction, and a salary schedule that keeps up with inflation and health care costs.
Teachers have until Monday to vote in an online election process, said Alex Tavlian, the FTA’s acting spokesperson. Results could be announced later this week, he said, depending on how quickly teachers vote.
The last time the FTA authorized a strike vote was in 2017. Bonilla told reporters that the near-unanimous vote back then in favor of a strike “really pushed negotiations along” and actually helped avoid one.
Why do Fresno teachers want to strike?
Teachers told The Bee on Wednesday that they supported the strike because they felt “unappreciated,” “exhausted,” “empowered” — and most of all, “excited.”
Lee Khang, a speech therapist at Hidalgo Elementary School, said she entered the theater hoping for a strike vote to “send a message to the district that we’re ready to fight for what’s right.”
A high school STEM teacher who declined to share her name said she hopes a strike is avoided so students don’t miss instructional days. She was particularly interested in reduced class sizes – a common theme among multiple teachers that spoke with The Bee. She also said the $500 payment that Fresno Unified plans to pay substitute teachers to fill in for striking teachers was a “slap in the face to teachers.”
A special education teacher who declined to share her name said she was generally happy with her current situation with the district, but she wanted to come out in solidarity with teachers who didn’t feel heard.
“If you poke the tiger too much, they’re going to attack,” said another teacher.
Speaking from the stage to the thousands of gathered teachers, Del Mar Elementary teacher Jennifer Lee said teachers were feeling a “tug-of-war (of) emotions,” whether over the financial repercussions of going on strike or feelings of appreciation for certain ideas in the district’s latest proposal.
Still, Lee said she planned to vote in favor of the strike because: “collective action is the only way our voices will be heard by this district.”
In a text message to The Bee, FUSD spokesperson Nikki Henry said that “we empathize with our classroom teachers who are having to make a difficult decision about whether or not to strike.” She added that the district has “worked hard at the negotiating table and hope our educators can see our earnest movement from our first proposal to our second proposal.”
Bonilla said Wednesday that these conversations could have taken place months ago.
What happens next?
The strike authorization vote comes weeks after the district and the union failed to reach a Sept. 29 deadline to reach an agreement.
The last agreement between the district and the union expired on June 30, 2022. Negotiations for a new 2023-2026 contract started in July 2022 and the two parties have met over 30 times, according to a fact finding report.
Theoretically, the district and the union could still iron out a proposal.
On Friday, the district unveiled its latest proposal, which includes provisions such as:
A 19% salary increase, which includes the current ongoing 14% increase plus a 5% one-time payment increase
An average teacher salary of $103,000 per year, and contractual language that can increase salary if the projected cost of living statewide increases
A “bridge to Medicare,” instead of lifetime healthcare benefits, “which meets basically the exact same goal”
Reduced class size overage limits for each of the next few years, plus an extra stipend for teachers with classes past those limits.
Returning 50 teachers on special assignment back to the classroom to lower class sizes
Henry said the district’s bargaining team has gone “above and beyond” and has “stretched ourselves to really reach a compromise.” FTA has only provided one proposal to the district back in May, she added, and it was “nearly identical” to the “interests” they presented last November.
“Now,” Henry said, “we are asking the FTA leadership to give us the same courtesy and provide a meaningful written response to our second package proposal this week.”
It’s not immediately clear if FTA plans to send a written response to the district, or if and when a strike would take place.
Bonilla told reporters Wednesday morning it would be “irresponsible” to estimate when a strike could happen at this point, but added that “it’ll definitely be something that we will communicate publicly.”
The last bargaining meeting between the two parties took place on Tuesday, he added. A subsequent meeting had not yet been scheduled.
This story was originally published October 18, 2023 at 10:38 PM with the headline "‘We’re ready to fight.’ Thousands of Fresno teachers gather for strike authorization vote."
