United Teachers Los Angeles members have voted to hold a "work stoppage" on May 15 in protest of recent budget cuts in Los Angeles Unified School District.
In what the union billed as biggest UTLA ballot turnout in recent history, nearly 74 percent of 26,815 ballots supported the work stoppage. UTLA represents about 48,000 teachers in the district. Votes were tallied Thursday.
"This wasn't an easy decision for our teachers to make, but we were pushed into it by a superintendent who has decided to raise class size and bring chaos to schools even though the District has the money to maintain class sizes and avoid these layoffs," UTLA President A.J. Duffy said in a union press release.. "We have to stand up for our students because the District won't. But it's not too late -- we're calling on the superintendent and the School Board to change course and make the right decision for our schools."
The action comes after the Board of Education earlier this month approved laying off thousands of new teachers, administrators and aides in response to a looming $600 million budget gap. UTLA has said the district should use federal stimulus money to avert layoffs.
Earlier this week, the board backed away from a plan to ask legislators to make it easier to fire teachers.
