[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]he nation’s second largest school district is voting to strike, according to sources within United Teachers Los Angeles. The teachers union represents nearly 35,000 teachers serving more than 667,000 students in Los Angeles Unified School District.
L.A. Taco has learned that teachers have been instructed to be “strike ready” by early October. The vote begins Thursday and is expected to pass, according to multiple teachers and leaders. “I think this shit is going to happen and I think it’s going to get ugly,” a member of the teachers union, who asked not be identified, told L.A. Taco.
In a recorded voice message, obtained by L.A. Taco, UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl told his union members that they need a “huge turn out and a huge ‘yes’ vote.” Caputo-Pearl says in the message that L.A. schools superintendent Austin Beutner is ignoring obligations to enter mediation with the union.
“He has refused to meet with us an earlier than Sept. 27,” Caputo-Pearl says on the robo-call to union members.