Activism

Oakland Teachers Vote to Strike; District Tries but Fails to Block Walkout

Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, OEA second vice president, said, “We’re bargaining for safe, stable, and racially just community schools. Our proposals for wages are to provide the kind of stability our schools [need] by demanding OUSD pay our entire bargaining unit a living wage. Educators need enough money to be able to stay in Oakland.”

Published

2 years ago

April 30, 2023

Ken Epstein

OEA Interim President Ismael ‘Ish’ Armendariz. Photo courtesy of Oakland Education Association.

By Ken Epstein

Oakland teachers have voted overwhelmingly to conduct an Unfair Labor Practices strike against the Oakland Unified School District. A walkout could come as soon as Monday, May 1.

In an online announcement, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) said 87% of members participated in the strike vote last week, with 88% of them voting in favor of authorizing a walkout.

The union says this action is a last resort after six months of fruitless negotiations with the district.

Oakland teachers are ready to strike. Photo courtesy of Oakland Education Association.

According to OEA Interim President Ismael “Ish” Armendariz, “OUSD’s bad faith bargaining has been disrespectful to our educators and our community. Oakland educators and our community deserve better.”

She said union proposals include “using vacant OUSD properties to house unhoused families in our district. We know that students thrive when their schools and their home lives are stable.”

The union also seeks to increase the number of counselors and psychologists and improve school-site safety.

“We need OUSD to remove the strings from their salary proposals and partner with us to improve student support,” said Taiz-Rancifer.

District officials had asked the state Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) to rule that a strike would not be legal at this time and issue an injunction against it, but PERB refused to stop a strike.

School officials told PERB there is “no compelling state interest that would justify a violation of students’ constitutional rights, especially as this strike activity is based on threadbare allegations of harm.”

Among community leaders in Oakland who are backing the teachers’ union are Cat Brooks, leader of the Anti Police Terror Project, and George Galvis, executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ).

Ken Epstein

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

5 days ago

June 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.