Sweetwater teachers rally for a contract

CHULA VISTA, Calif.--One day after an estimated 1,000 members of the Sweetwater Education Association (SEA), the California Teachers Association and the National Education Association, rallied along with students, parents and community members in front of the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) building, a tentative agreement was reached between the district and SEA bargaining teams.

On October 7, protesters marched in South Bay San Diego to confront the SUHSD, which had failed to bargain a union contract in good faith for well over a year. The rally picked up steam when a large group of students, gathered next to the building opposite where SUHSD administrators were holding a "fact finding" meeting, started chanting on behalf of their teachers: "What do we want? A contract! When do we want it? Now."

Protesters then marched down the heavily trafficked Broadway Avenue, chanting, "You say fact find, we say strike line!" and "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro--que queremos un contrato!" (One, two, three, four--we want a contract).

Teachers, parents and students are upset that class sizes have increased drastically, with some classes having well over 40 or 50 students per teacher. This is in the face of 170 adult school and temporary teachers having lost their jobs.

To make matters worse, SUHSD Superintendent Jesus M. Gandara has sent letters to parents in the district claiming to "set the record straight in response to some statements the union had made." Gandara claims that the teachers union have "begun a campaign to minimize teaching efforts" and that "teachers have chosen to use classroom time to air their grievances directly with students."

Parents were outraged when they found out that the cost of sending two letters--full of half-truths and anti-union propaganda--in one month was more than $28,000. At the rally, one parent held a sign that read, "My kids teachers could have used $28,000."

Parent Michael Ranson took the time to write back to the superintendent, stating that "sending such a letter might be of great cost to the school district in a time were all money must be spent conservatively." Ranson also pointed out that "it is not necessary to spend district money on politically motivated messages" and that "parents in the Sweetwater District are savvy enough to learn the facts of the ongoing negotiations without your assistance."

Eastlake High School senior Joori Kim explained at the rally that "federal law prohibits teachers from making a collective action within the school" and that, instead, Eastlake High School teachers have been picketing in the mornings from 6:40 a.m. to 7:05 a.m. for the past month, before students begin arriving for school.

She continued, "The students didn't know because teachers can't tell students anything about it. That's why students and parents weren't that supportive in the beginning," indicating that students and parents would have very likely been more supportive from the start had they known about the issue earlier on.

The next morning, a tentative agreement was reached between the district and SEA bargaining teams. Morning picketing and a "work to rule" campaign have been suspended by the union pending a contract ratification vote.