Most charters schools are non-union. Nationally, about 90% of charters are non-union. That’s what the Waltons, the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and other supporters of privatization want. They oppose unions. That’s why they support charter schools and vouchers.
Media Contact:
Ed Gutierrez, UTLA
213-595-7949 (m)
egutierrez@utla.net
Charter school teachers at The Accelerated Schools to announce possible strike
Teachers represented by UTLA at three Los Angeles charter schools operated by The Accelerated Schools (TAS) will announce on Wednesday a date for a potential upcoming strike. Educators have voted 99% to authorize a strike at the three schools.
The announcement comes on the heels of the release this week of a report by a state-appointed arbitrator and fact finding panel, which provides recommendations for resolving nearly all the outstanding contract issues at TAS. Teachers are demanding TAS decision-makers get back to the bargaining table and work to resolve these issues or face a strike.
Educators began negotiations with the urgent goal of fixing the problem of high teacher turnover and have been in contract negotiations with The Accelerated Schools for more than twenty months. The union and TAS are at impasse with disagreement on a small number of key issues. These include improvements in provisions that will ensure teachers are better able to exercise rights under their contract and provide for the same basic job protections currently enjoyed by nearly 90% of public school educators in Los Angeles. Teachers are also asking for TAS to offer more competitive health benefits and to take up an increased share of the cost for healthcare benefits.
TAS is not claiming an inability to pay for health benefit improvements. Teachers are fighting for a contract that will address skyrocketing teacher turnover at TAS and help bring increased stability for students and improvements in learning conditions.
“Last year, the teacher turnover rate was 40%,” said Wallace Annenberg High School teacher Kurt Belbin. “We know that this negatively impacts students and their educational experience. We were, and remain, resolved to fight for the schools that our students deserve.”
TAS teachers’ announcement comes at the same time that more than 30,000 UTLA members are poised to walk off the job at more than 900 school sites across LAUSD. A strike at TAS would be only the second charter school strike in the country following the walkout of 500 charter educators in Chicago last month.
JANUARY 9 – TAS TEACHER POTENTIAL STRIKE ANNOUCEMENT
Media site
Accelerated Charter Elementary School
3914 S. Main St., Los Angeles CA, 90011
What: Press Conference with TAS Teachers
Time: 3:45pm
Spanish-speaking parents and educators available
UTLA, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union local, represents more than 35,000 teachers and health & human services professionals who work in the Los Angeles Unified School District and in charter schools.
http://www.utla.net
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So teachers at three utla represented schools might have their own strike but not necessarily support the public school strike? How the heck does that work? What does their contract say? Obviously it’s different than that of public school teachers. I’m confused, you should be too.
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Charter teachers striking is an unmistakable good. Unity matters. Uniformity does not.
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Agree…what else is new?
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may each teacher action across the nation inspire ANY teachers to unite
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Gee that really answers nothing, thanks
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