East Bay DSA organizes itself to support the Oakland Education Association
East Bay DSA has been a bastion of solidarity with Oakland educators over the past several years, including during the 2019 strike, and now as OEA prepares to hit the bricks again.
For over twenty years the Oakland Unified School District has been a battleground in the national fight against austerity, privatization, and school closures. The Oakland Education Association (OEA), through its current contract campaign, is once again at the forefront of the public struggle to demand the city and state invest in students and the workers who teach them. East Bay DSA (EBDSA) members have gathered at rallies and pickets to fight for the students in their classrooms and to show solidarity with education workers in their city.
When OEA struck for seven days in 2019 to fight for higher wages and more supports for students, EBDSA organized support campaigns and turned out members. The chapter raised funds to provide four thousand lunches per day to students out of school in their national “Bread for Ed” campaign.
Four years later, in the face of a persistent threat of school closures and ballooning administration salaries, OEA continues to fight for public investment in classrooms through their new contract. It is demanding a $10,000 raise retroactive for this school year, and a 10% raise for the following year, increased support for critical staff positions, and an end to closures. Management, after some compromise, has offered a two-tier salary schedule with raises for tenured teachers but barely any movement for untenured staff, even as the costs of hiring more administrators continues to expand.
EBDSA has been planning with its OEA members and organizing solidarity efforts since the contract expired in October. A dedicated OEA solidarity group works on support efforts, while chapter members within the union have also met to support each other in organizing their worksites. EBDSA has brought members to rallies at the school board and boycotted professional development days. Members joined OEA workers on informational pickets outside schools to talk with families about what the union can win for their students. On March 24, they rallied with union members who went on a wildcat strike across fifteen sites to demand movement from management.
Winning a contract that works for workers and students requires solidarity across unions as well, and that mutual support is crucial as the school board seeks to divide teachers from support staff in SEIU 1021. The board passed cuts to crucial staff positions in the name of saving money to meet teachers’ demands, even as senior administration salaries remain untouched. The EBDSA solidarity group responded rapidly to turn out members to oppose the cuts. Since then, the chapter’s Education Workers Circle hosted a comrade from United Teachers Los Angeles who helped give perspective on staff and teacher solidarity in the recent SEIU 99 strike.
Now, OEA is ramping up the pressure. The union filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against management in late March, and after their member surveys showed strong support for a strike n the absence of serious movement by administration at the bargaining table, it took a strike authorization vote, with 87% voting yes.
EBDSA is ready to stand with the union. At the most recent chapter meeting, members voted to fundraise and donate at least $10,000 to start another Bread for Ed fund to support Oakland students as we stand with the workers who teach them. Chapter members have walked side-by-side with OEA workers to canvas local businesses to show support for the union’s demands. East Bay DSA will continue to stand with OEA and with Oakland students for as long as the struggle continues and on the picket line if necessary.
You can donate to the Bread for Ed fund at this link.