Oakland teachers authorize strike amid stalled contract negotiations

By Da Lin

One week after teachers in San Francisco staged a four-day strike, educators in Oakland have voted to authorize a strike of their own if contract negotiations with the school district fail to produce an agreement.

The Oakland Education Association, which represents nearly 3,000 educators, announced that 91% of its members voted to authorize a strike, citing stalled labor negotiations and demands for higher wages.

Carrie Anderson, who teaches second grade at Manzanita Community School, said educators are preparing for the possibility of a walkout — even as many would prefer to focus on their classrooms.

“We are making picket signs for our potential upcoming strike,” said Anderson as she painted a picket sign at union headquarters on Saturday afternoon.

Anderson said the situation reflects months of unsuccessful negotiations with the Oakland Unified School District.

“Unfortunately, with this district, this is what it takes to get them to listen,” Anderson said.

Union leaders said Oakland educators are among the lowest-paid in the region and argued that higher wages are necessary to retain teachers. According to the union, roughly 400 teachers leave the district each year, contributing to instability for students.

“We want to keep teachers in Oakland. We have 400 teachers leaving our district every single year. And that is absolutely devastating to our student stability. It’s difficult to form relationships, it’s also difficult to really learn if every year, it’s a new teacher,” said Dylan Drewry, a teacher librarian at Skyline High School who’s on the bargaining team.

The union is demanding a 12% raise spread over two years. However, Oakland Unified has faced severe budget deficits in recent years due largely to declining enrollment. The district also recently emerged from state receivership this past summer and has consistently said it lacks the financial resources to meet the union’s demands.

“We were told 0% raises, 0% wage increase, which is not only insulting, but it is a pay cut in this environment where we have inflation,” Drewry said.

Students and parents now find themselves caught in the middle. Oakland teachers have gone on three strikes since 2019, creating what many describe as fatigue across the school community.

“I think it’s a terrible situation. And for parents, dealing with the disruptions to our children’s learning, to our family lives, to see the teachers we care about suffer in the community, I think it’s an unacceptable state of affairs,” said Grace Park-Bradbury, a parent with two children in the district.

Park-Bradbury blamed school board leadership for what she described as a longstanding structural deficit within the district.

“Only one in three kids in Oakland read, and one in four do math on grade level. So, as much as this conversation is about teachers and the strike, I think that really points to systemic dysfunction in a way that we need strong, consistent, brave leadership to carry us through, and we’re not getting that from our school board right now,” she said.

Despite authorizing a strike, educators said they hope negotiations will succeed and allow them to remain focused on teaching.

“It’s taxing, it’s exhausting, it’s frustrating. We shouldn’t have to work this hard simply to get what we need for our classrooms, for our students, and for our schools,” Anderson said.

Union leaders have not set a strike date and said they hope to reach an agreement and avoid a walkout. If a strike does occur, they say parents will be given advance notice to prepare for childcare needs.

Oakland Unified School District officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the potential strike.