San Francisco educators' first day out
Monday marked the beginning of the historic San Francisco educators strike
The strike is on!
Monday marked the beginning of the historic San Francisco educators strike — the first since 1979 and the beginning of a statewide wave of action to take a stand for the future of our schools. The strike got off to a powerful start with over 100 pickets that drew extensive community support, and a massive rally at City Hall.
The strike went forward despite a last minute attempt by mayor Daniel Lurie to pressure the union into a three-day delay. Lurie, an ultra-rich heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, is no friend of working people. Where was Lurie in the last 11 months? His public request of the union in the last hour before the strike was the first public statement he has made on the negotiations. This was nothing more than an effort to break the educators’ momentum, and the union didn’t fall for it.
Pickets start bright and early
By 8:00 a.m., pickets in every corner of the city were going strong as fired-up educators and many supporters made their voices heard. The widespread support the educators enjoy was obvious everywhere — one MUNI bus driver even changed their vehicle’s destination signs to “UESF” as it went by a picket to show solidarity.
Sarah Ye, a special educator and swim coach who joined the morning’s pickets, said that, “The district has not moved at all on wages, special education workload, dependent health care benefits — all these things that would make it easier for people to stay in teaching and for students to have stable classrooms, for students to have the same teachers and not have teachers leave them.”
Saam Khanzadeh, a Mission High school teacher, explained the importance of the union’s demands for sanctuary schools and programs that support families struggling to make ends meet, “This is a sanctuary city, this should be a sanctuary school, where our students are getting everything they need. So we need to fight so us educators can give the students everything that they need.”
At O’Connell High, United Teachers of Richmond president Francisco Ortiz joined the picket line in solidarity, explaining, “We stand united with the educators of UESF on their first day on the strike line. We are with you, your fight is our fight, and on behalf of all of our members we want to ensure that you know that we stand with you today, tomorrow and for as long as you’re going to be out here on the line!”
UTR went out on strike in December and secured major wage increases and fully funded healthcare for families, and major improvements in staffing and class sizes.
Support from small businesses, parents
On the picket line and throughout the city, it was impossible to miss the broad public support the educators enjoy. Over 1,000 small businesses put up posters reading “S.F. Stands With Striking Educators! Our Students Are Worth Fighting For!” Nassir at Crown Market told On Strike!, “The ones who care for the kids, give them a good education, they have to get paid. They shouldn’t have to struggle, they shouldn’t have to worry about whatever is going on outside — they have to pay attention to the students and the class.”
Many of the community supporters who came out on Monday had children in SFUSD schools. One parent who joined the picket line at O’Connell High explained, “I’m a parent supporting our educators—the paras, the SLPs [speech and language pathologists], the principals, the clerks—because I was a public school student and because our children deserve equal education and our teachers deserve good housing and livable wages.”
Huge turnout at City Hall rally
The first day of the strike culminated in a massive rally at Civic Center, where educators and their supporters converged from every part of the city in a demonstration of collective strength. Union leaders and community supporters addressed the energetic crowd, expressing determination to keep up the fight for as long as it takes.
Speaking to the crowd, UESF Vice-President Nathalie Hrizi said, “What you did today can truly be called historic. You came out to 130 worksites with pickets I’ve never seen before! And not only were our educators walking the line, but our parents and our students and our community members were with us … after waiting and waiting and waiting and getting those little red lines through every single proposal, today you told the district we can’t wait! And they will give us everything because you did this today. And if we have to be out tomorrow we’ll do it again!”
At the end of the day, UESF announced that another mass rally would take place at 12:00 p.m. in Dolores Park. Day One of the strike was a major success, and the educators were set to enter the second day with even more energy and momentum.