NFL Players Association Sends Pizza To LA Teachers On Strike

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — There are some heavy-hitters standing in solidarity with the teachers of the second-biggest school district in the nation as they enter the fifth day of a strike.

During a Friday morning news conference, a representative for NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith talked about why the pro football players union brought pizzas to the picketing teachers.

"We saw all week long, people protesting, people striking, people walking picket lines in the rain, and we thought it was important enough," said Joe Briggs, a lawyer with the NFL Players Association. "So yesterday, at several locations, we sent pizza to those people so they could be sustained and continue to strike, continue to walk in the picket lines."

Briggs, who said he was a product of the LAUSD, invited all the teachers of UTLA and their supporters to the Rose Bowl for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

The more than 30,000 teachers represented by the United Teachers Los Angeles have been on strike all week, despite torrential downpours. Bargaining teams from the union and the district will return to the L.A. Mayor's office Friday morning to continue negotiations after discussions went past midnight last night.