United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) declared an impasse in bargaining with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) December 3.

After 18 bargaining sessions, UTLA announced that, because LAUSD was making minimal movement in bargaining on the 2025-2027 contract, they planned to file for impasse. 

English teacher Ryan Andrews, who is a part of UTLA’s bargaining team, said that LAUSD has been unwilling to negotiate.

”We feel we’ve done everything we can to move closer to where the district wants to be and we don’t feel that that same reciprocal movement has happened on the district’s side,” he said.

In a statement given to The Oarsman, a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson said, “The district has increased the monetary value of its proposals multiple times to address concerns raised by UTLA in ongoing negotiations and is disappointed that UTLA has chosen to declare an impasse.”

Andrews said that fact-finding and mediation are the next steps. If it is agreed that both parties are at impasse, UTLA could authorize a strike

Andrews says we can’t be sure when a strike would occur if it were to happen.

”We are communicating with members that we’re looking at a strike authorization vote early next year and that would be the next step in the process,” he said. 

Drake Witham, Venice’s UTLA representative and chapter chair, said that he’s hopeful that UTLA and LAUSD can come to an agreement before a strike is necessary.

”I don’t want a strike,” he said. “I’d rather be in school teaching. We didn’t go into this profession to walk around with signs in the rain, we went into this profession to teach. We need the tools to teach.”

Though contract negotiations have reached an impasse, LAUSD staff did receive a win last week when a tentative healthcare agreement was made.

“I’m really excited to report that we did agree tentatively on a healthcare agreement which retains all of our current levels,” Andrews said. 

In a statement from UTLA announcing the tentative healthcare agreement, they wrote, “The district had the money to maintain our healthcare the whole time and they have the money for our contract demands too.”

Andrews echoed this statement.

”We are very confident that the district can more than afford to meet all of our demands in order to transform our schools, to make this district work for all students and all members,” he said. 

Venice teachers have been participating in union activities to show their support for the bargaining efforts. 

Around 50 Venice teachers attended the West region rally November 6 at Daniel Webster Middle School, which was one of five UTLA regional rallies that day.

In the days surrounding the regional rallies, LAUSD began to backtrack on their efforts to freeze funding for employee healthcare. 

Social studies teacher Taylor Vivanco believes that this backtracking is directly related to UTLA’s organizing.

”I think because of the rally we saw that they did make some movement immediately,” he said. “Even before the rally happened, they were making concessions. After the rally, I think they saw how many teachers came out and how many teachers are willing to continue to escalate this if the district continues to refuse to negotiate on our contract.”

At the rally, biology teacher Julia Bare—who served as UTLA chapter chair from August 2023 to June this year—said that she hopes the district sees how vital teachers are. 

”I hope that the district sees how important it is to invest in schools and that one of the best ways they can invest in schools is by investing in teachers and keeping them in the profession,” she said. “If you can’t keep teachers in the profession, schools continue to suffer.”

Andrews said that the district is making movement on some of UTLA’s demands.

“Those are promising signals from the district that, in fact, we could see movement and a strike could be avoided,” he said. 

Andrews, Witham, Vivanco, and Bare all emphasized that they do not want to strike but are willing to if it becomes necessary.

“It would be better if the district could just meet some of our requests without us having to go on strike but I think that a lot of the things we’re asking for are pretty basic things so because the district is refusing to meet some of these things, they are kind of forcing us into a position where we may have to strike,” Vivanco said.

After Venice’s weekly UTLA meeting on Thursday, December 4, Witham said that teachers were unanimously in support of striking if LAUSD refuses to meet UTLA’s demands. 

“We had a high turnout at the meeting and all of those teachers said that if we reach that point then we will vote to go on strike,” he said. “If we feel like we’re not provided with what we need to provide education, then that’s the alternative we’ll have to take.”

Though tensions are rising, staff are still celebrating the wins they have had, continuing to organize through the union, and are holding out hope that an agreement can be reached without the need for a strike. 

“The odds seem insurmountable but as long as we continue to know our value and know that when we walk off campus schools would have no idea what to do without us,” Bare said, “there is always going to be hope that we can do better and improve the situations for our students,”