The Los Angeles Unified School District and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 99, which represents roughly 30,000 school support workers, reached an agreement in principle early Tuesday, averting a strike just hours before schools were set to open.
The district announced the breakthrough in a statement released at 3 a.m., saying schools would remain open as both sides continue working to finalize the details of a tentative agreement.
“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,” acting Superintendent Andrés E. Chait said in a written statement.
He added that the agreement reflects the work of the district’s employees and expressed hope it will mark “a new chapter of partnership.”
“At the same time, we are clear-eyed about the challenges ahead and know that meeting them will require continued trust, shared responsibility, and a united focus on what matters most—our students,” Chait said.
The deal follows days of negotiations leading up to a looming Tuesday strike deadline. SEIU Local 99, the last of the district’s three major unions to reach a deal, had been preparing to walk off the job if no agreement was reached, with the latest bargaining session stretching from Sunday through all day Monday and into early Tuesday morning.
The breakthrough comes after the district reached tentative agreements Sunday with United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents roughly 37,000 educators, and Associated Administrators of Los Angeles/Teamsters Local 2010, which represents about 3,000 administrators and principals. Both unions had indicated they would honor picket lines if a strike moved forward.
Together, the three unions represent roughly 70,000 employees, the vast majority of the district’s 83,000-person workforce. If all three unions were to strike, it would mark the first time they have walked out at the same time, significantly raising the stakes of the ongoing negotiations. The move could disrupt instruction for more than 400,000 students across the nation’s second-largest school district.
City leaders had also joined the effort to reach a resolution. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said Monday night that Mayor Karen Bass had been in the negotiating room and actively involved in the talks.
In a statement released around 2 am, the union said the tentative agreement includes a 24% wage increase, increased work hours for employees, expanded health care benefits for teacher assistants, after school workers and community representatives, along with protections against subcontracting and the rescinding of planned layoffs for hundreds of IT workers.
Union officials said the agreement aims to address long-standing concerns over pay, staffing and student services. The deal must still be ratified by SEIU Local 99 members.
The most recent offer publicly available from LAUSD was a 13% wage increase over three years for SEIU Local 99 members. But union leaders said that was not sufficient.
“The tentative agreement reached by United Teachers Los Angeles demonstrates that the school district can make movement to address the needs of front-line workers and the students we serve,” said SEIU Local 99 Executive Director Max Arias in a previous statement. “We continue to be open to the mediation process with the school district. Just as we work together every day in our classrooms and campuses, we are proud to be united with teachers and principals in the fight for our schools, students, and communities. LAUSD can avert a strike by ending the harassment and retaliation against SEIU Local 99 workers and presenting proposals that ensure equity and fairness for everyone who contributes to student learning.”
SEIU Local 99 members are custodians, food service workers, special education assistants and bus drivers. The average salary for a SEIU Local 99 member is $35,500 –considered by many to be below the poverty level for a family of four.
The two-year deal with United Teachers Los Angeles, retroactive from July 1 through June 30, 2027, includes a double-digit salary increase and raises the starting teacher salary to about $77,000, according to both the district and the union, which represents roughly 37,000 educators. District officials said the deal includes an 11.65% salary increase, while union leaders said the average increase is close to 13.86%, depending on how it’s calculated.
The district said its agreement with the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles/Teamsters 2010, which represents around 3,000 administrators and principals, includes a salary increase of 11.65% over two years and a reopener for a third year.
The agreement with UTLA follows more than a year of bargaining and a marathon negotiating session Saturday that stretched into early Sunday morning. The district later in the evening reached a separate tentative agreement with AALA after continued talks, as officials worked to avert the possibility of a strike on Tuesday involving three of its major unions.
“Over the last 14 months, educators were told to settle for less while the district sat on funds meant for classrooms and students, even as it pursued costly and ultimately unsuccessful outside technology contracts,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a written statement Sunday. “Being asked to do more with less only strengthened our resolve to win a strong agreement.”
She added that the agreement would allow educators to better support students while noting the union remains in solidarity with SEIU Local 99, the only remaining union still negotiating with the district.
UTLA leaders described the deal as a series of major gains, highlighting provisions including changes to the LAUSD’s salary structure, expanded mental health staffing, paid parental leave for the first time, a new special education agreement setting a 20:1 staffing ratio, and protections related to subcontracting and artificial intelligence.
UTLA said its members will receive details of the tentative agreement in the coming days, followed by a ratification vote.