Posts tagged budget
Oakland Schools, Teachers Union Reach Deal, Avert Strike
March 1, 2026 // Last summer, it just regained local control after 20 years in state receivership. Without factoring in the price of the new deal, OUSD is eyeing $102 million in cuts by June. Interim Superintendent Denise Saddler told the school board this week that without those reductions, “we won’t be able to pay all the people on our payroll in the fall. We don’t have the money in the budget for next year.” On Wednesday, OUSD approved cutting nearly 400 staff positions, including 180 filled by OEA members, through early retirement buyouts, elimination of vacant positions, and layoffs. Altogether, that is estimated to save about $11 million annually
Chicago Teachers Union protests trash fee hike while its president skips hers
December 15, 2025 // While constantly demanding the “wealthy” to pay their “fair share,” CTU’s president, Stacy Davis Gates, is notorious for repeatedly failing to pay her city water, sewer and trash bills. Despite her $273,105 income, she just can’t seem to pay her home utility bills on time. Now her union thinks a trash fee increase is a bad idea? Davis Gates’ past-due bills piled up for over three years and hit nearly $5,700 at one point, an open records request showed in 2024. The city invoked repeated delays in providing her billing information, and Davis Gates paid up just before the information was released to the Illinois Policy Institute.
Teachers in West Contra Costa Unified go on strike
December 6, 2025 // The teachers are expected to picket outside dozens of schools located in El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole, Richmond and San Pablo. The union and school district are at impasse after 10 months of negotiations for a new contract. The teachers union authorized the strike Monday. It seeks a 10% pay raise over the next two years, better health care and smaller class sizes. The district is offering a 3% raise and increased health benefits.
Promotoras protest Re:Vision’s treatment of unionized workers
November 29, 2025 // DENVER — “¡Sí, se puede! ¡Sí, se puede!” More than 50 people chanted the phrase — which means “yes, it can be done” in Spanish — outside the Denver nonprofit Re:Vision Tuesday morning. The crowd gathered in the cold to listen to current and former Re:Vision employees and union organizers speak about the leadership of Re:Vision’s executive director Mariana del Hierro. Re:Vision is a food equity nonprofit in Westwood, a predominantly Latino and immigrant community.
‘Fracture’ in Chicago’s labor world complicates Mayor Brandon Johnson’s third budget fight
November 25, 2025 // That’s the signature hue of the Service Employees International Union, whose local affiliates were Johnson’s second-biggest labor backer in his 2023 election. Instead, the self-styled “most pro-worker mayor” in Chicago’s history has only seen one union vociferously cheer his $16.6 billion proposal, despite his hard line against layoffs: the red-shirted Chicago Teachers Union. It’s a sign of the times after a “fissure” between the once-close SEIU and CTU has grown into a full-blown “fracture,” said Ald. Desmon Yancy, a freshman progressive who previously served in SEIU leadership.
CALIFORNIA: WCCUSD teachers’ strike not inevitable, union says, but sides remain far apart on salary and benefits
November 23, 2025 // The district has said it doesn’t have sufficient funding, citing a budget deficit that has put it at risk of state takeover. The district plans to withdraw $13 million from reserve funds to cover the projected deficit for this school year. The union’s demands include a 10% increase in salary over two years, full medical benefits coverage, and reductions in class sizes. The district initially offered no increase in salary or in the percentage of benefits it pays, but then offered a 2% salary increase and a bump in its health coverage from 80% to 85%, which the union rejected.
What Got Cut from the White House Spending Bill That Benefits Federal Employees
July 11, 2025 // The Senate stripped out: Changes to FERS contributions and pension formulas The at-will employment requirement for new hires The MSPB appeal fee Provisions affecting federal labor unions
S.F. union members arrested after halting City Hall meeting with rowdy protest
June 19, 2025 // About 100 demonstrators chanted loudly, forcing the Board of Supervisors to go on recess about 30 minutes into its 2 p.m. regular meeting. Protesters continued for nearly two hours before police warned them to leave and then started detaining some demonstrators. The board resumed its meeting around 4 p.m. Organized labor groups decried Lurie’s plan to eliminate around 100 filled jobs as well as hundreds of vacant positions — while retaining roughly 33,000 employees. They also object to his plans to slash $185 million in nonprofit and contract funding and impose other austerity measures to close a roughly $800 million deficit. Unions are demanding that the mayor slash more “wasteful” private contracts and reduce what they say is “top-heavy” management while retaining those 100 filled jobs.
Karla Walter and Vincent Vernuccio on Trump Administration Policies Toward Workers
May 27, 2025 // Karla Walter of the Center for American Progress and Vincent Vernuccio of the Institute for the American Worker talked about the impact of Trump administration economic and labor policies on working Americans.