THE PAST FEW MONTHS have seen many of our union’s locals demand that school districts meet their needs — for a living wage, for fully funded health care, for safe and stable schools where students have the resources to flourish.

Several locals, after months at the bargaining table, have gone on strike with overwhelming support from their members and communities.

“This storm is driven by decades of disinvestment in us as workers and our students,” said CTA President David Goldberg. “Members across the state are saying ‘we’re not waiting anymore’.”

The strikes, he adds, are “not a flex of political muscle. This is a flex of worker power and worker pent-up frustration of not being able to survive.”

Strikes at United Educators of San Francisco, Dublin Teachers Association, Twin Rivers United Educators and Natomas Teachers Association won major gains; see highlights on the next pages. Other locals are poised to follow their lead in the coming weeks.

Our union remains strike-ready and prepared to put everything on the line to get what educators and students deserve, Goldberg says. “When we all fight back, there is no limit to what we can win.”

Twin Rivers United Educators

TRUE educators and allies made their message clear. Top photo credit: @movementphotographer

“Our union is forever changed for the better. We held the line for 12 days and the relationships and the bonding that happened within the sites, with the community, across sites was amazing. This is generational change, not only for our union, but for our whole district.”
—TRUE President Brittoni Ward

Membership:
About 1,500 teachers, counselors, nurses and other certificated staff
Strike dates:
The first strike in Twin Rivers Unified’s history ran March 5–22 after more than a year of stalled contract talks.
What TRUE won:
Fully employer paid health care, including for families; union members had been paying about $1,600 a month for family coverage — equivalent to a housing payment. Other highlights of the two-year agreement include:
• 7% raises and a $4,000 bonus
• 100% employer-paid health care for families retroactive to July 1, 2025–26
• Speech language pathologists will receive additional pay increases; strengthened language for SLP and pre-school educators, and support for IEPs, SSTs and 504 meetings.

Natomas Teachers Association

Natomas Teachers Assn. members stood firm in their demands. Photos: @movementphotographer

“The outpouring of support for our struggle only strengthened our resolve at the table. As frontline educators in our community, we know this fight is not just for ourselves and our students, but for the future of public education in our community.”
—NTA President Nico Vaccaro

Membership:
667 teachers, counselors, nurses and other certificated staff
Strike dates:
The strike ran March 10-18 after more than a year of bargaining.
What NTA won:
The two-year agreement includes more than $26 million in investments toward stabilizing the district’s staffing crisis, which has left more than 800 students without a permanent educator.
• A 5.25% salary increase (3.25% backdated to July 1, 2025, and an additional 2% raise on July 1, 2026)
• Effective April 1, 2026, teachers receive a $138 monthly increase in health care benefits for employee-only coverage, worth $1,658 annually, and a $1060 increase in family coverage, worth $12,242 annually; additional increases will
occur on the first day of 2027 and 2028.
• More prep time and support to improve classroom and campus safety
• Increased pay for teachers with high special ed caseloads and class size overages

Dublin Teachers Association

Top: Educators took to the streets; bottom: Teachers walk out with their classroom gear in preparation for the strike.

“Educators, CSEA partners, families and community members stood together day after day. By forcing Dublin Unified to invest in our students by decreasing class sizes and increasing compensation and health care to retain and recruit the best educators for our students, we’ve made important steps towards the schools our students deserve.”
—DTA President Brad Dobrzenski

Membership:
About 700 teachers, counselors, nurses and other certificated staff
Strike dates:
The strike ran March 9–12
What DTA won:
• A 2.3% COLA pay increase for teachers, retroactive to July 1
• Increased health benefits — 85% covered by July 1, 90% by Jan. 1, 2027, and 100% by Jan. 1, 2028
• Guaranteed full-time counselors at every elementary school
• Special education caseload reduced from 28 to 23
• Reduced class sizes for elementary school classes
• 45-student limit for high school PE classes to increase safety

Little Lake Education Association

Mighty LLEA was joined by hundreds of parents and community members as they held the line for 10 days and demanded the district prioritize students.

“Parents were on the line with us every day. They opened their homes to give us a place to rest…. How much the community supported us is the best teacher appreciation present this union could ever receive.”
—LLEA President Maria Pilios

Membership: 200 educators
Strike dates: The first strike in Little Lake school district in 150 years ran April 16–29 after eight months of negotiations. LLEA had sought better health care coverage, smaller class sizes and improved student support services. At the time that the strike started, the district had imposed a cap on health care contributions, enforced pay cuts and proposed increasing class sizes. During the strike, the superintendent suddenly resigned.
What LLEA won:
• Coverage for 90% of the cost of health benefits with a flexible cap
• Additional support for special education teachers
• No increase to class sizes
• Each teacher to receive a $1,000 bonus

United Teachers of Richmond

Photos this page: The Richmond community came out strong in support of their educators. Credit: @movementphotographer

“The next stage in our fight will require us to join forces with working people across our state as we organize and demand the full funding our schools and students deserve, and we are ready to continue that fight.”
—UTR President Francisco Ortiz

Membership:
About 1,500 teachers, counselors, psychologists, speech pathologists, nurses
and other certifcated staff
Strike dates: The first strike in West Contra Costa Unified’s history ran Dec. 4–10, 2025
What UTR won:
• 8% raise over two years
• 100% employer-paid family health benefits by mid-2027
• Increased pay for special education staff
• Strengthened protections for educators and student class sizes

United Educators of San Francisco

Photos this page: Neither rain nor a recalcitrant school district stifled UESF members’ voices.

“What we achieved is the ability to stabilize school staffing and ensure educators can afford to live and work in San Francisco. This contract is a strong foundation for building the safe and stable learning environments our students need.”
—UESF President Cassondra Curiel

Membership: About 6,500; about 5,000 certificated staff; 1,500 classified staff; also includes substitute teachers within the district Strike dates: The first strike in almost 50 years ran Feb. 9–13.
What UESF won:
After an 11-month campaign and 4-day strike educators won a historic two-year agreement. Highlights:
• 2% raises this year and next and additional paid work days for certificated employees; 8.5% over two years, with 4% in Year 1 and 4.5% in Year 2, for classified employees, plus an additional floating holiday
• Paraeducators providing specialized medical services receive an additional
5% salary increase
• Fully funded family health benefits starting on Jan. 1, 2027; relief for family health care available to eligible employees starting on July 1, 2026.
• Additional support for special education educators
• Sanctuary and housing protections for SFUSD families

Top photo caption: Striking Twin Rivers and Natomas educators march across the landmark Tower Bridge in Sacramento. Credit: @movementphotographer

Locals Show They Are
Ready to Walk and Win

By Julian Peeples

THIS SCHOOL YEAR has shown across the state that when we strike, we win — and even the real threat of a strike can be the difference in winning at the bargaining table.

Members in four locals voted to authorize strikes, organized in their communities, held art builds and prepared to put it all on the line to win the safe, stable and fully staffed schools their students deserve -building so much power and showing district management their commitment to each other and their students that they were able to win landmark agreements by being strike ready.

United Teachers Los Angeles (30,000+ members)

Won agreement on April 11

• Fixed broken salary scales
• Won average salary increase of 13.86%
• Won four weeks of paid parental leave
• More than 450 new counselors, social workers and psychologists
• Breakthrough Special Education agreement with first-ever 20-to-1 ratio for resource specialist teachers and planning time at schools with 80% of students in general ed setting for 80% of the day
• Improved penalty pay for special education class size violations
• Protections against subcontracting and Artificial Intelligence
• Contractual commitments in support of immigrant students and families
• Health care for substitutes after 93  days of work
• Maintains Black Student Achievement Program staffing

San Diego Education Association (6,000+ members)

Won agreement on Feb. 13

“When students don’t have what they need to succeed, it impacts everyone in the school community. It took the entire community standing up together to make a difference.”
—SDEA President Kyle Weinberg

• Won 5% raise over two years
• Improved Special Education staffing
• No layoffs
• Locked in fully paid family health care
• More stability for San Diego students and families

Oakland Education Association (3,000+ members)

Won agreement on Feb. 27

“By forcing Oakland Unified to invest in creating stability in our classrooms and schools we are making a historic investment in the future of Oakland.”
—OEA President Kampala Taiz Rancifer

Won 11–13% pay increase (partially retroactive to July 2025)
• Won additional salary increases for credentialed special education teachers, school nurses, early childhood educators, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, social workers and athletic coaches.
• Smaller class sizes in kindergarten and first grade
• Reduced number of required professional development days
• Language to reduce district  outsourcing
• Added harassment protections, including cyberbullying
• Creation of new district Psychological Safety Committee,
to address racism, discrimination and emotional harm
• Won immigrant legal rights MOU, which expands legal supports for immigrant students and families
• Commitments to Black Thriving Schools and Community Schools

West Sacrament Teachers Association (450 members)

Won agreement on March 25

• Won fully paid Kaiser health care for all groups, retroactive to January of this year, which runs through 2027.
• Won a 4.5% raise retroactive to July 2025
• 4.5% raise for 2026–27
• Increased stipends by 15% and added several new stipends