Los Angeles Schools Avoid Strike After Reaching Deals with Unions

LAUSD reaches agreements with all three major unions representing 70,000 employees

Apr. 14, 2026 at 5:07pm

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An abstract, dreamlike scene of blurred school supplies, backpacks, and other educational objects in a warm, hazy color palette, conveying a sense of calm and optimism.The successful contract negotiations between LAUSD and its unions will bring a sense of relief and stability to students, families, and frontline school workers.Los Angeles Today

Los Angeles public schools will remain open after the district reached last-minute deals with the three major unions representing over 70,000 employees, including teachers, custodians, food workers, and bus drivers. The agreements came just hours before a planned strike deadline, averting potential disruptions for the 400,000 students and their families.

Why it matters

The successful contract negotiations between LAUSD and the teachers, administrators, and service worker unions demonstrate the district's ability to avoid a potentially disruptive strike that could have impacted hundreds of thousands of students and their families. The agreements also highlight the power of collective bargaining and the importance of finding common ground between labor and management, especially in a large urban school system.

The details

After reaching tentative deals with the teachers and administrators unions over the weekend, LAUSD announced a last-minute agreement with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99, which represents 30,000 custodians, food workers, special education assistants and bus drivers. The deal includes a 24% wage increase, more work hours to ensure health insurance benefits, rescinding IT layoffs, expanded healthcare for support staff, and no subcontracting to outside vendors.

  • The strike deadline was set for 2 a.m. PDT on April 14, 2026.
  • LAUSD reached a deal with SEIU Local 99 just hours before the strike deadline.
  • The district had already reached agreements with the teachers and administrators unions over the previous weekend.

The players

LAUSD

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest public school system in the United States serving around 400,000 students.

SEIU Local 99

The local chapter of the Service Employees International Union representing 30,000 custodians, food workers, special education assistants and bus drivers in the LAUSD.

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)

The union representing approximately 35,000 educators in the LAUSD.

Associated Administrators Los Angeles (AALA)

The union representing about 3,000 administrators in the LAUSD.

Andrés E. Chait

The Acting Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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What they’re saying

“We are proud to have reached resolution with all of our labor partners, UTLA, SEIU, and AALA Teamsters Local 2010, ensuring stability for our schools and continuity for the students and families we serve.”

— Andrés E. Chait, Acting Superintendent, LAUSD

“This agreement was won through the bold action and courage of thousands of workers who were willing to sacrifice to improve conditions in their schools and their lives. A strike was always the last resort, and we are proud that we could work with the school district and [Los Angeles] Mayor Karen Bass to reach an agreement that recognizes the contributions of front-line workers in our schools.”

— Max Arias, Executive Director, SEIU Local 99

“I worked with both sides to help them find a deal because a strike would disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids and their parents, who need childcare and need to go to work.”

— Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles

What’s next

The SEIU Local 99 union must still vote to ratify the tentative agreement reached with LAUSD.

The takeaway

The successful contract negotiations between LAUSD and its three major unions demonstrate the district's ability to find common ground and avoid a potentially disruptive strike that could have impacted hundreds of thousands of students and their families. The agreements highlight the power of collective bargaining and the importance of labor-management cooperation, especially in a large urban school system.