After four days on the picket line, February 9-12, the United Educators of San Francisco ended their strike. The results? Teachers got a 5% raise over two years, while para-educators got a 8.5% raise. In addition, starting in January 2027, all 6,500 members of the SF teachers union and their families will have 100% of their health care covered by San Francisco Unified School District.
Of course, this strike did have some wins. It is something to celebrate when teachers and para-educators, who have been politically inactive for generations, decide that enough is enough and head to the picket line to fight for the salary and benefits that should be their human right. However, it has been nearly 50 years since San Francisco educators last went on strike. This so called “win” of a 5% raise is a mere drop in the bucket, compared to the raise teachers should receive to keep up with an inflation rate of 2.5%.
Why is it that in California (a so-called progressive state) and in San Francisco (a so called liberal city) educators need to strike for four days (without pay) just to get the bare necessities? Once again, the San Francisco teacher strike highlights the absurdity of the system that we live in. Democratic centrists, and conservatives on the right, claim that teacher strikes are an abomination. The line is – how could teachers abandon students for the picket line? This is the same attack strategy that is used against healthcare workers. How can nurses leave their patients’ bedsides to strike? The answer? Service workers are present, day in and day out, supporting those in need all across the Bay Area, and beyond. While the bosses sit like fat cats and reap the profits of these service workers every day.
How can we even tolerate this? Teachers are forced to strike for a 5% raise? Why did SF educators not have 100% healthcare coverage in the first place? Why are educators not automatically receiving at least a 2.5% raise every year to keep up with inflation?
Another local union is set to strike in the coming weeks. The Oakland Education Association, OEA, is in the process of voting to authorize a strike. Oakland Unified School District and the OEA union are nearing the end of the Fact Finding state of the bargaining process. This is when a third party creates a non-binding report about disagreements. The Fact Finding report is due on Friday, February 19. The OUSD district can impose a last, best, final offer, or OEA can strike.
The OEA will most likely call its strike within 48-72 hours after the Fact Finding report is released.
The OEA is asking for a 14% raise over two years, while the OUSD school district is offering a 0% raise. Of course many Oakland teachers feel that they must strike, even if the strike leads to marginal gains. To do nothing means not only winning nothing, but possibly even losing hard won benefits. This will be OEA’s third strike in the last six years. Previous OEA strikes resulted in the same kind of marginal gains as other school districts – a reduction of two students in class size, a few percent raise each school year.
Why are all these California school districts striking this 2025-2026 school year on different dates? Why did these school districts not strike together? To name a few: Placer County Association of Credentialed Teachers, South West Teachers Association of the South Bay, Mt. Diablo Education Association, Glendale Teacher Association, Miller Education Association, and Porterville Educators Association. All of these California local teacher unions went on strike this school year, and they all won raises that do not keep up with inflation. But all have signed contracts that end on different dates so they have no legal way to strike together.
The California Teachers Association, CTA, which is the state union for all these local unions, had originally proposed the We Can’t Wait Campaign with the idea that California local unions would strike together. Can we imagine what a difference that could have made? What if all the unions stood together, and said “No – you will not pit one district against another?”
