Late Tuesday afternoon we received a letter from Superintendent Tony Smith requesting a meeting next week to discuss a return to bargaining.This is what we have been demanding since the Fact-Finder’s Report was issued April 13! It is clear that our consistent message is showing results. This means it is even more vitally important that OEA members stand strong tomorrow on the picket lines! We need our message to be loud and clear — Oakland educators will not settle for higher class sizes, we will not settle for remaining at the bottom of all Alameda County districts in compensation, we will not settle for watching our Adult Education program eliminated!

See Media Advisory sent out today. It will be updated shortly with this breaking news.

Click here for the latest OEA Bargaining Update!

Click here for a full-page ad OEA is spreading across the web– the latest on what’s at stake and where the money is!

From OEA Press Conference April 28th: 

Parent Kristin Miller-Nicholas and children with

OEA President Betty Olson-Jones (more pictures: click on Teachers Strike April 29)

Come by the OEA Center Wednesday to pick up flyers, picket signs, and T-shirts (the new shipment just arrived).

Schedule for April 29:

5:30am - 11:00am    Pickets at all sites

11:00am                 Take BART or carpool to Frank Ogawa Plaza

12:00pm - 2:00pm    Rally at City Hall

2:00 - 4:00pm         Return to sites to picket

(For more information, check out "Teachers Strike April 29" by clicking on the left-hand corner.)

With the Board room filled to capacity with OEA members and community supporters, the School Board disregarded the eloquent, heartfelt, passionate statements from dozens of speakers and unanimously voted to impose the District’s "last, best, final offer." Refusing to consider the fact-finding report as a foundation for continued negotiations, they so angered the audience that most teachers walked out after the vote.

Be sure to attend the expanded Rep Council meeting Thursday, April 22 at 4:00pm at Oakland High, 1023 MacArthur Blvd. to find out more and prepare for our April 29 strike!

On Friday, April 16, days after OEA sent a letter requesting to resume bargaining based on the newly-released fact-finding report, the District informed us that they do not intend to return to the table to bargain, and that they want us to accept their last, best, final offer! As you recall, that contained nothing — no compensation, the promise of increased class sizes, no minimum number of Adult Ed employees, etc. This is unacceptable!

As voted at Rep Council on Monday, April 12, the one-day strike set for April 22 was postponed until April 29 to insure that we are "strike legal," allow us time to study the fact-finding report (received April 14), and to go back to the bargaining table in an attempt to reach a fair settlement of our long-standing contract dispute. Remember: the fact-finding report is non-binding and advisory, and any favorable recommendations contained in the report would have to be bargained in order to be part of a tentative agreement. But it appears the District is unwilling to pursue a fair settlement, giving us no choice but to strike.

Download the following reports/letters/flyers and get them to your colleagues:

Fact-finding report

Letter to be distributed to parents and community members about why we are striking April 29th. Spanish translation; Chinese translation. Vietnamese translations available at OEA.

Strike flyer to distribute to parents and the community highlighting our demands for a fair contract! Spanish translation; Chinese translation.

ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE!!!