Teachers and other workers in the San Francisco Unified School District [SFUSD] went on strike on Monday, February 9, picketing 130 work sites all over the city and rallying in the thousands at Civic Center across from San Francisco City Hall – over wage increases, health care, class size, and other issues, closing classrooms for 50,000 children. This historic strike is the first time teachers have walked off the job in San Francisco since 1979. The strike is expected to go into at least a second day, as negotiations continue and more rallies and marches are planned.
Paraeducator Xisa Bullook Watts, as quoted in SF Gate at the rally, said, “There’s an extra 10% off my paycheck that’s going toward buying diapers and food for my students, so I’m happy to be here.”
The United Educators Union is negotiating for a 9% salary increase over two years to attempt to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living in the city, for fully funded health care coverage, increased staffing, and sanctuary school policies. The one area of agreement was a plan to make the SFUSD a ‘sanctuary district’, meaning establishing committees and training to support immigrant families.
Natalie Hrizi, vice president of substitutes for the United Educators of San Francisco, told the crowd:
“The time is now! If we have to march to their houses, we’ll march to their houses, and no one sleeps until we get the agreement our students and educators deserve!”
The spirit at the Monday rally was determined and positive, bringing together teachers, parents, students, and other supporters, people who want the wealth of this country to be spent on our future – our children and those who teach and care for them, the community, and its wellbeing. That was the spirit I heard and saw today: in the words, signs, and faces, young and old. With solidarity like this, tomorrow will be better and smarter for all of us!
San Francisco poet and organizer Sarah Menefee is a long-time homeless rights activist. She is the Homeless Desk on the People’s Tribune Editorial Board, and a founding member of such organizations as the San Francisco Union of the Homeless, Homes Not Jails and 'First they came for the homeless’. Known for her poetry about the streets, her latest collections are Winter Rose, Sign and Holy Eel.
