(RepublicanNews.org) – The pandemic revealed how many of America’s public school employees seemed unwilling to do their jobs, and that attitude has continued, at least in Los Angeles.
Striking workers affiliated with the SEIU Local 99 union have closed down Los Angeles schools for three days this week. The LA Unified School District is the second-largest district in the United States. 50,000 union members are walking the picket line after the union and the district failed to come to terms on March 20th.
The union says its members—largely janitors, cafeteria workers, teacher assistants and bus drivers—have been living on “poverty wages.” The union’s executive director Max Arias said the average salary for union members is just $25,000 a year.
So far, California Governor Gavin Newsom has not released a statement on the strike. Political observers speculate that he may be considering a run for president in 2024.
The union says its priorities are a “pause in educator evaluations during this unprecedented time,” a pay raise, more “safety protocols” and what it calls a “Continuity of Learning plan” for “educators.”
LA Mayor Karen Bass told the city’s parks and recreation department to offer meals to families—not just students—affected by the three-day school closure. The mayor’s office does not have authority or jurisdiction over the school system.
Governor Newsom is occupied with a raft of serious problems, including California’s creaking and precarious electric power grid, rises in street crime in major cities, and skyrocketing rates of homelessness. The pictures from cities such as San Francisco show once-world-class cities now with sidewalks blocked by homeless encampments.
Locals and tourists in San Francisco have related how the homeless and mentally ill are defecating on the streets in broad daylight while thieves are breaking into cars and stealing electronic equipment at rates previously unseen.
Newsom’s plan for tackling the homeless problem is to build so-called “tiny houses.”
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