KCRW Reports
LA Teachers Prepare to Strike
Alex Caputo-Pearl, who heads the union, says his 30,000 or so members have built the capacity for a full-on teacher walkout.
By Saul Gonzalez • • 5m ListenMaybe you got one of the mass mailers from LA Unified School District this week. With a teacher strike looking increasingly likely, the district is warning families to get ready for a walkout.
Instructors demanded a 6.5% salary increase, more hiring, smaller class sizes, and more say over things like where to put charter schools.The LAUSD says those demands would plunge America's second largest school system into bankruptcy, and that the teachers want unprecedented power.
Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the teacher's union, spoke with KCRW's Saul Gonzalez about the looming strike.