LAUSD schools open after "long night" of negotiations leading to labor deal, Mayor Bass says

Los Angeles Unified School District campuses remained open on Tuesday after a last-minute deal was struck between district negotiators and a key labor union in the early morning hours.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Karen Bass said she sat in on a "long night" of negotiations to help a deal cross the finish line between the LAUSD and SEIU Local 99, a union representing about 30,000 aides, bus drivers, custodians and cafeteria workers. 

"I stepped into negotiations to make sure that every effort was made to find an agreement to reach a compromise," Bass said, while admitting that the city has no jurisdiction over the district, but wanted to help prevent what would have been a massive disruption. "Because a strike would disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids and their parents who need childcare, who need to go to school and need to go to work."

The tentative agreement comes after unions for teachers and school administrators reached tentative agreements over the weekend. Representatives of those two unions, the United Teachers Los Angeles and Associated Administrators Los Angeles, said they'd strike in solidarity with the SEIU if it hadn't reached a deal by Tuesday's scheduled work stoppage. 

SEIU's tentative deal includes a 24% wage increase. UTLA and AALA members also received significant pay raises in their new deals.

Union leaders on Tuesday said the solidarity between all labor groups was crucial in keeping schools open and for receiving pay raises.

"Partnership means equal respect," said SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias. "We're hopeful we can start working towards not having workers live in poverty and making sure that we have robust staffing to be able to take care of all students."

Livable wages in light of inflation and the high cost-of-living in LA were imperative for labor groups looking to provide the highest quality of school employees to the nation's second-largest school district, leaders said.

"Teachers will now earn salaries that better reflect the true cost of living in communities that they serve," said UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz. "This victory ensures that educators can afford to stay in their neighborhoods and live closer to their jobs."