On June 31st contracts expired in five of the largest East Bay school districts–Oakland, Berkeley, New Haven, West Contra Costa County, and Mt Diablo.  In four of them the locals have since either signed “soft” one year contracts, locking in only the most modest gains, or allowed their existing contract to roll over for another year.  Mount Diablo educators, however, haven’t had a raise since 2018 and  their union, MDEA, decided to launch a contract fight this year. Educators throughout the Bay Area stand to benefit if Mt Diablo educators win, especially the other East Bay districts negotiating next year. Raising conditions for teachers anywhere increases our ability to improve conditions everywhere. We need to unite across districts and  industries to have the power needed to win. 

Perhaps sensing MDEA’s vulnerability in a difficult political environment, the district’s initial offer was a despicably low 2% raise over three years, effectively a pay cut considering rising cost of living. Shortly after a loud and well-attended rally at a September 22nd MDUSD Board meeting, district negotiators increased their offer to a 6% raise over three years, which is still far from acceptable.  MDUSD has offered nothing new when it comes to lowering class sizes, upgrading facilities, or increasing funding for educational and extra-curricular programs. 
When educators fight just to keep up with the cost of living we hear that teachers’ unions demand too much. If we demand actual improvements to our schools we are told that’s unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that MDEA’s demands at the negotiating table–like the demands of other educators’ locals, – only skim the surface of what public schools and those who work in and attend them need and deserve, especially in predominantly working class districts. 

Politicians from both political parties support adding billions of dollars to already massively bloated $750+ billion dollar military budgets and then tell us there are insufficient funds to support well-funded and well-resourced public schools for all students in the United States. America’s billionaire class has seen its net wealth increase by $1.8 trillion since the coronavirus began, with half those gains going to the 20 richest billionaires, but we are are told it’s utopian to demand small class sizes, librarians or funded after-school programs.

Bay Area Educators United–some of us Mt Diablo teachers, most of us not– will build support in our union locals and community organizations for MDEA. Educators from throughout the Bay Area, and beyond, need to see it as their fight too. Support from other educator locals and other unions, and from parents and  others in the communities we serve, is critical. Too often workers are left to fight with employers virtually by themselves. Only solidarity across district lines can get us to the point where we can strike statewide for something other than crumbs!