More than 420,000 Los Angeles School District students stayed home Tuesday during the first day of a three-day walkout called by public school staff.

Photo taken from CNN

Members of the Service Employees International Union have entered their second day of strike action across the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The measure has caused inconvenience for hundreds of families, especially those who depend on special programs for their children.

More than 420,000 Los Angeles School District students stayed home Tuesday during the first day of a three-day strike

called by public school staff, grouped in a union representing 30,000 workers.

Bus drivers, janitors, assistants for students with special needs and cafeteria workers at 1,000 colleges in the Los Angeles metropolitan area

The workers on strike, in the second largest school district in the country, consider a salary increase necessary to cope with the increase in the cost of living experienced in the city in recent years.

“Classrooms in Los Angeles were empty again Wednesday morning as tens of thousands of teachers and employees in the nation's second-largest school district continued a three-day walkout that has left some families stunned and fighting for the future. childcare,” reported

The New York newspaper reported that “Service Employees International Union Local 99, which represents 30,000 teacher assistants, bus drivers, janitors and cafeteria workers, is seeking a 30% pay increase.

Union leaders say their members are not paid much more than the minimum wage, as the costs of living have risen in Southern California.

The Los Angeles teachers union, which is also currently negotiating its contract, called on its 35,000 members to join in solidarity.”

The article notes that “Los Angeles is home to some of the richest people in the world.

But the makeup of students and workers in the Los Angeles Unified School District reflects the changing demographics of the second most populous city in the country, as well as the large number of Angelenos struggling to survive.”

An overwhelming majority of the district's students, some 74%, are Hispanic or Latino, a consequence of broad immigration and demographic trends, and a glimpse of the city's future.

About 89% of students are economically disadvantaged, according to district data.

Three-quarters of the students and families in the district live at or below the federal poverty level.

Bus drivers, janitors, assistants for students with special needs and cafeteria workers at 1,000 colleges in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are demanding a 30% pay increase and an extra $2 an hour for the lowest-paid employees.

Photo: Taken from CNN

“The School District considered us essential workers during the pandemic, but it seems that they have forgotten about it

,” said Conrado Guerrero, president of Local 99, during a march held Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles where he added that currently “negotiations are stagnant”.

For his part, the Superintendent of the School District, Alberto Carvalho, issued a statement in which he indicated that they will seek to resume dialogue, but stressed that last week's proposal was already a "historic offer" that recognized "the great sacrifices of this group of employees.

The schools of the school district on strike serve 300,000 breakfasts and 285,000 lunches to Latino and African-American students from disadvantaged communities, who will receive food at 24 points in the city organized by the City Council to meet their needs while the power cut lasts. classes.

The United Teachers Union of Los Angeles (UTLA), which brings together 35,000 teachers, showed its solidarity and has also joined this strike, while negotiating a 20% salary increase in two years, starting with 10% for the current course.

SEIU members have been working without a contract since June 2020, and the faculty's agreement expired in June 2022.

The current strike represents the longest interruption of activity in the classrooms of the second school system in the country after the six-day strike carried out by teachers in 2019.

(With information from EFE and CNN)

On video, strike in Los Angeles

In video, demand of the workers