San Francisco Teachers Union Moves Closer to a Historic Strike, First in More Than 50 Years

San Francisco teachers are barrelling toward a strike, casting their final votes this week to decide whether months of unsuccessful labor negotiations warrant the school district’s first full work stoppage in more than half a century.

If authorized, the strike would be the first in San Francisco since 1979, threatening to upend school operations indefinitely. Superintendent Maria Su has said schools could not open safely without striking staff, and that — if campuses are forced to close — the academic year could be extended into the summer.

“The district and the union remain very far apart. That is a driving concern,” said Cassondra Curiel, president of United Educators of San Francisco. She said the last time the union held a final strike vote like this week’s was in 2006.

United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,000 teachers, paraeducators and other school staff, has been negotiating a new two-year contract with the district since March of last year. Educators are currently working under a deal that expired in June.

Through months of bargaining, the union and district have not been able to close a wide gap in contract demands and concessions.

The union has asked for fully paid family health care, substantial raises and other benefits for hard-to-staff special education roles. The district has said it is exploring “creative solutions” to address some of those demands, but can’t afford certain concessions under its current financial strain.

The parties mutually agreed to move into a two-part mediation process in November. Last week, they wrapped up the second step of that mediation process without a deal.

“We are disappointed to share that we did not reach an agreement with UESF after today’s fact-finding session,” Su said in a message to families on Friday. “Despite the District’s creative suggestions, UESF did not offer any counter, and terminated our Fact Finding session at 4:30 p.m.”

The district said it’s offered UESF 6% raises over three years — pay increases the union said are contingent on giving up extra preparation periods for advanced placement course teachers and a sabbatical program for veteran educators, which they don’t want to lose. SFUSD also said it offered a way to fully fund health benefits, but Curiel said the union has not gotten any such proposal in writing.

“These ideas did not go nearly far enough, and … came with huge concessions our team knew our members would never stand for,” the union said in a statement. “We remain prepared to hear any real solutions the district may formally bring to the table that will stabilize our district for our students, educators, and families.”

Over the next week, the fact-finding panel, which is made up of a representative for the union, district and neutral chair, will issue its non-binding recommendations. The district will also make the union a final offer.

This brings the union closer to a strike than it has been in recent years, according to Curiel.

She said the union is still willing to negotiate with the district, but that it “has not shown any actions that lead to actual attempts to avoid [a strike].”

“[Since] the last real proposal that we were passed, [it] has been months,” she said. “The district could change that effort. We’re taking steps to be prepared.”

The current strike vote, which ends Wednesday, appears all but guaranteed to pass, after an initial vote in December received a whopping 99.3% approval from members.

In the first three days, more than 4,250 members turned out to cast ballots, according to UESF.

“This is an incredible show of strength and unity,” the union said in a statement. “The urgency of our demands has never been clearer.”