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| United Teachers of Richmond President Gail Mendes; Vallejo Education Association Co-President Katherine Catanzarite; and Oakland Education Association President Betty Olson-Jones speak at the three-union event. |
Bay Area educators serving 87,000 students in three urban school districts in Oakland, Vallejo and West Contra Costa County announced a contract bargaining alliance June 12 and warned that the governor’s proposed state education cut of $4.3 billion will hurt many of the students who need help the most.
In a news conference in Oakland, leaders of the three CTA chapters in state-controlled districts with nearly 6,000 Greater East Bay educators said the alliance will help pressure the districts’ respective state-appointed administrators to settle fair contracts. Their labor contracts all expire June 30.
Speakers included leaders of the 3,000-member Oakland Education Association, the 2,000-member United Teachers of Richmond and the 940-member Vallejo Education Association.
Teachers warned that they are also united in opposing the governor’s cuts to education because they will only hurt local students and add to problems ranging from large class sizes to poor starting salaries for teachers to program cuts.
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| Oakland Education Association Second Vice President Rosenda Thomas offers strong support for the new alliance. |
“We are standing in solidarity with this new alliance because, while school may be letting out shortly, we will not be letting up,” said Gail Mendes, president of United Teachers of Richmond, which represents West Contra Costa Unified educators.
“The governor’s proposed cuts would wreak havoc in Oakland” and cause millions of dollars in program cuts, warned Betty Olson-Jones, president of the Oakland Education Association. “Oakland’s 39,000 students didn’t create the state or district budget crises and shouldn’t continue to be punished because of them.”
While each of the districts was put under state trusteeship for different reasons, teachers agreed that conditions have worsened since the state took over.
“Vallejo teachers have received salary increases totaling only 3.5 percent over the last three years,” said Katherine Catanzarite, co-president of the Vallejo Education Association. “Our starting salary of only about $37,000 is not enough to recruit and retain educators. More state budget cuts would only make a bad situation worse.”
Mike Myslinski
