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Long Beach teachers make it easy to see the reasons for maintaining quality health care. |
An estimated 1,400 members of the Teachers Association of Long Beach descended on the school district headquarters Feb. 3 to protest a contract impasse and prevent take-backs in health benefits.
Wearing "Stay Healthy" buttons, teachers packed the board of education meeting and spilled out onto the sidewalks while various supporters addressed the board inside.
"This is about priorities," says TALB President Tony Diaz. "For a long time, Long Beach teachers have traded off what could have been larger salary increases in order to maintain a quality health plan. Now, for less than a third of one percent of their billion dollar budget, the district has stopped negotiating around this important issue."
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From his parking structure perch, TALB 2nd Vice President Marc Hyatt addresses an overflow crowd of teachers outside the district school board meeting.
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The Long Beach Unified School District has proposed eliminating some current provider options, and increasing deductibles and prescription drug costs.
Diaz compares teachers' struggle to the ongoing grocery workers' strike. "This is another example of a large corporation or agency trying to balance its budget on the backs of its employees and attacking their health care. It is absolutely not necessary. The district can afford to maintain our coverage. They just choose not to."
The massive turnout was designed to send a strong message to the district board and to show support for the TALB bargaining team before a state mediation session the next day. Although no immediate agreement was reached during that session, additional bargaining has been scheduled for early March.
"We're going to keep the pressure on," says Diaz. "I think the board was expecting a few hundred people at best. They had their eyes opened as to how seriously teachers take this issue."
Frank Wells
