The Oakland teachers union reached a tentative agreement with the Oakland Unified School District on all negotiation points, and classes will resume Tuesday, officials confirmed early Monday morning.
The school district sent a message early Monday, confirming the Oakland Education Association called off its strike, and teachers were preparing to resume classes Tuesday. Schools are open Monday, and some teachers may be on campus for what the district called a “transition day.”
Shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, union members said they needed to sign a corrected document in order to end the strike and had given the district a deadline of 11 p.m. to send such a document. If that didn’t happen, the OEA said it would have resumed the strike Monday.
At around 11 p.m., a union representative told NBC Bay Area, “We finally received a document and we are reviewing now.” The deal was signed early Monday.
OUSD officials sent a statement Sunday night, which didn’t speak to the errors or delays the union mentioned, saying only, “We are making good progress and will keep our families and community updated throughout the night.”
Oakland teachers on the OEA bargaining team told NBC Bay Area that dozens of them slept inside the union building Saturday night, thinking they may be approaching the home stretch of these negotiations that have been months in the making.
“We have been here for 32 hours, slept on the floor last night in this building, and [I] did not get to see my children on Mother’s Day,” said Kampala Taiz Rancifer, vice president of Oakland Education Association. “I would like it if they could send over an agreement so that we could sign it and get the children and the students back in school.”
Over the weekend, the union said it made major progress in negotiations, coming to an agreement on the “common good’ items that have been a sticking point for teachers. Those “common good” items include a variety of things like resources for unhoused students, reparations for Black students, and efforts to bring shared governance to Community Schools.
On Sunday night, union representatives told NBC Bay Area they are in agreement on all subject areas, from pay to student support resources. But they also were visibly frustrated, saying the district has sent them documents with glaring errors and agreed-upon items missing.
“We’re just waiting for the final document that we already have an agreement on to be sent accurately so we can sign it; that’s what we’ve been waiting for the last six hours,” said Ismael Armendariz, union president.
Monday would be the eighth day of the teachers strike if picketing continues.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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