Three months after they went on strike, teachers in Oakland are finally learning how much the labor action cost them.
That's because the Oakland Unified School District only recently processed their unauthorized absences.
Teachers had gone on strike in the effort to secure a new contract that would include better pay and more classroom support.
While their union, the Oakland Education Association, had invited teachers to apply for hardship funds during the strike, the union’s president told KQED it is no longer accepting applications.
But many teachers didn’t ask for help, including Raymond Pulliam, who teaches a third- and fourth-grade combination class at Parker Elementary School in Oakland.
He estimates he lost about a third of his earnings for one pay cycle, a few thousand dollars.
"There's a problem, because all the efforts that were put into the situation, it seems that I really don't know who came out on top."
"I said, 'I’m OK. I don’t need the funds.' But what it turned out to be was actually a repayment. It was a payment for the loss that was incurred during the strike," Pulliam said. "I felt like me applying was taking money away from somebody who really needed it."
