West Contra Costa Teachers Agree to End Strike and Return to Class After a Week

West Contra Costa County teachers agreed to end their first-ever strike early Wednesday, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with the school district overnight.

Educators will return to regular classroom instruction on Thursday, a week after they first walked off the job, according to the United Teachers of Richmond and the school district.

“Our fight for stability and respect was not easy and is not over. But make no mistake, our historic strike has broken a vicious cycle of neglect and disinvestment,” union president Francisco Ortiz said in a statement. “We are committed now, more than ever, to improving learning conditions for our students, because when they thrive, our communities thrive.”

The two-year agreement includes 8% raises over that period for all members, and additional wage increases for special education teachers. The West Contra Costa Unified School District will offer a 100% employer-paid family health care benefit by June 2027 and commit to other provisions that improve classroom conditions and protect international teachers from the threat of changing immigration regulations, such as new high price tags for H-1B visas.

The tentative agreement, which the district said is framed around a proposal from the school board, still needs to be ratified by the union and formally ratified by the board.

“This contract is a strong foundation for us to continue to build the learning environments our students deserve,” said Gabrielle Micheletti, union vice president and co-bargaining chair.

Ortiz told KQED that the union was “encouraged and excited” that the board was aligning with their vision for district schools.

UTR and the school district began negotiating for a contract to span the current and next school year eight months ago. Over more than a dozen bargaining sessions, the parties failed to reach a consensus on wages and health care coverage, among other issues.

The union’s initial ask was a 10% raise over two years and full benefit coverage, while the district’s final offer came out to just a 3% salary increase during that time and some additional benefit coverage.

WCCUSD said it made that offer despite a budget shortfall. The union said it could, and must, offer more, prompting the work stoppage that began last week.

The strike disrupted instruction across WCCUSD’s 56 schools as many families kept their students home. On the first day of the strike, more than 1,300 of the district’s 28,000 students registered for an independent study curriculum they could complete for attendance credit as an alternative to coming in person.

During the first two days of the strike, teachers were joined by 1,400 district custodians, food service workers and bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 856, who had also been in unfruitful contract negotiations with the district.

They reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract over the weekend, allowing some school operations to resume on Monday, but classroom interruptions continued through the start of this week.

Throughout the strike, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton said that schools would “provide safe and supportive classrooms and learning activities” and continue to provide meals for students. She noted, though, that it would not feel like normal days.

Still, Ortiz said on the picket lines, the union received strong support from families and elected leaders. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond urged the parties to return to the negotiating table Sunday, offering to convene bargaining teams the following day.

“They see our students go disinvested in for far too long, and they know that change is necessary,” Ortiz said.

He said the union will continue to push for smaller class sizes and improvements to special education programs in the future. According to Ortiz, the district’s special education director and superintendent were not present in bargaining sessions.

“We know that that’s a bigger fight ahead for special education, when we have leadership that is actually engaged in these processes,” he said.

Since bargaining continued past 2 a.m., Wednesday, the day will be an optional classroom preparation day for teachers before classes resume on Thursday. Schools will remain open, as they have throughout the strike.

“We are relieved that the strike is over and our students and teachers will be reunited,” the district said in a statement.

KQED’s Ayah Ali-Ahmad contributed to this report.