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Long Beach Unified's Classified Workers Threaten Strike After Contract Talks Break Down

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — Employees with the Long Beach Unified School District are threatening to go on strike after labor negotiations broke down.

long beach csea strike threat
(credit: CBS)

Dozens of workers protested Wednesday after the contract talks broke down. Employees say their salary hasn't gone up since 2018.

District officials say they offered the union -- which represents more than 2,500 classified employees – a competitive package in line with what was offered to teachers last year.

"That included a 5% raise, that 5% raise was declined," district spokeswoman David Zaid said. "We believe that that was a fair amount."

The California Schools Employees Association want a 7% pay raise and $2,200 in hazard pay.

"The money's there, but help us. We're in a bad economy right now, we need to be able to survive here," said Gilbert Bonilla, Jr. of the CSEA.

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