SF Teachers Strike Has No End in Sight as Union, District Spar Over Health Care

San Francisco schools will not reopen this week as bargaining stalled for hours Thursday while the city’s teachers strike dragged on.

As union supporters returned to the picket lines and about a thousand headed to a midday rally at Embarcadero Plaza on Thursday morning, the War Memorial Veterans Building across from City Hall, which had been bustling with bargaining teams since the weekend, was unusually quiet.

After the San Francisco Unified School District and United Educators of San Francisco pointed fingers Thursday morning over who was waiting for whom to return to the table, negotiations resumed around 3:30 p.m.

“Last night, after promising us a proposal, we were left waiting for eight hours, only to hear that the district had nothing,” UESF President Cassondra Curiel said Thursday morning outside the War Memorial Building. The union said it left the bargaining table around 1 a.m. Thursday. “We haven’t heard an hour yet about when we’re supposed to arrive.”

But the district said it had been waiting on that call to come from the union: “At 1:33 a.m., SFUSD passed our latest counteroffer to UESF outlining our latest proposal for wages, health care and special education. The UESF team has not yet responded,” it said in a statement via email.

“The SFUSD bargaining team, comprised of veteran and expert professionals, are ready to meet with the union’s bargaining team to continue negotiations,” SFUSD said in a statement just before 9 a.m. “SFUSD continues to work around the clock to come to an agreement that honors our educators and is also fiscally responsible.”

Around 5 p.m., the district sent a message to families announcing that class would be canceled again Friday. It’s also becoming increasingly likely that schools will remain shuttered through mid-next week. Monday and Tuesday were already planned holidays for President’s Day and the Lunar New Year.

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Throughout bargaining this week, the parties have appeared to make some progress on wages: The union seemed amenable to the district’s offer of a 10% raise over two years for paraeducators, though it has not agreed to the rate formally.

They’ve also slightly narrowed a wide gap in proposed raises for certificated staff, which include teachers, social workers and counselors. The union had originally asked for a 9% raise over two years, while the district offered a 6% raise over three. On Wednesday, the union proposed a 7% raise over two years, while the district offered 4%.UESF said Thursday that their main sticking points in negotiations remain health care and special education working conditions.

“We’re ready to make this deal. The district knows what they need to get this done,” Curiel said. “It’s time for the district management, SFUSD school board and everyone who cares about our cities, children and communities to come together now to figure it out.”

The union is demanding full benefits coverage for families of four, while the district’s latest offer Monday, would cover 80% of health premiums at the lowest rate.

The proposal to the union Wednesday morning also included creating a working group to assess special education workloads, though the union has requested that the district transition from a caseload model, which divides work by student, to one that factors in each student’s needs.

The district has not shared the proposal it said it delivered at 1:30 this morning.

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