"Recently, a group of teachers negotiated for salary adjustments on behalf of the OSA teacher union, Coalition of Oakland School for the Arts Teacher and Staff, or COSATS. The negotiations lasted exactly three weeks, from September 14th to October 5th. They ended with the teachers getting a six percent retroactive raise and two to four percent bonus if they met their fundraising goals, an outcome both sides were happy with." -- Isaiah Kahn, 8th grade
Recently, a group of teachers negotiated for salary adjustments on behalf of the OSA teacher union, Coalition of Oakland School for the Arts Teacher and Staff, or COSATS. The negotiations lasted exactly three weeks, from September 14th to October 5th. They ended with the teachers getting a six percent retroactive raise and two to four percent bonus if they met their fundraising goals, an outcome both sides were happy with.
“Without the collective bargaining of our union, our concerns weren't really heard,” Jordan Karnes, Literary Arts chair and union representative, said on why it was important for OSA teachers and staff to unionize. “It took us all being in a union to be like ‘we're all unified, all of us are speaking together.’ Prior to that, I feel like it would be like a few outspoken teachers who would get burnt out and then they'd be like ‘whatever.’ Now it's collective, you have a whole team of people that are all looking out for each other.” This is the goal of a union, to present a unified front to their employers so nobody can be singled out, and they can act and negotiate as a group.
Last year, the OUSD teachers went on strike for 11 days. They faced some backlash from parents but ended up getting most of their demands, namely a 15% raise along with safer conditions for both themselves and students. Negotiations between the Oakland Unified School District and the teacher union had been going on for seven months prior to the strike, with OUSD refusing to meet their demands.
“I think that is a perfect illustration of a district not valuing the people who actually make school possible,” said Teddi Pontecorvo, a social studies teacher and member of the leadership team for the union. "Without teachers there is no school, so people need to keep that at the forefront of their minds when they are deciding where money should go.”
According to executive director Mike Oz, the relationship between the union and administration at OSA is different. “I do believe that our environment is uniquely collaborative. We work very closely together and do not have as much separation between management and union as there may be in a district setting.”
The first documented union was during the early 19th century in Manchester, disguised under the name “Philanthropic Society.” At the time, unions were illegal, which they remained until the mid 20th century. Employers weren’t keen on raising wages if they didn’t have to, and anyone who argued could be swiftly fired and replaced. This is what unions fight to prevent. If they are unsatisfied with their employers they have the ability to act as a group, via striking or similar actions. The idea of striking dates back earlier when sailors would strike down topsails and refuse to go out on the water unless their wages were raised.
“When people started working at this school, it was one of the highest paying schools,” continued Karnes. “We slowly fell behind because our salaries were not increasing with yearly cost of living increases. As people who live in the Bay, we know that that hits us so much harder because our cost of living is already higher than most other areas.” OSA teachers hadn’t gotten cost of living adjustments in 10 years, which is one of the main things that prompted these negotiations.
“It is no secret the cost of living in the Bay Area is increasing at a rapid rate,” said Mike Oz, executive director at OSA. “Our contract that we negotiated two years ago had a 16-20% increase in compensation for all teachers, but was quickly outpaced by this increase in the cost of living. Part of that original negotiation was a reopener for year 3 which COSATS had understandably decided they would like for compensation to be the to article of our contract to reopen.”
“OSA has lost over 20 teachers and staff members over the last two years,” added Crystal Yan, a union representative, middle school teacher, and head of the science department, “and our stagnant salaries definitely contributed to that. We knew we would continue losing teachers if we didn't offer them a living wage.”
There have been other negotiations in the past, some of which haven’t ended very well. “Over the past few years there have been times that, instead of negotiating in good faith, OSA has tried to go down a legal route to fight the union, which has not benefited the school,” said Pontecorvo. “I hope this is behind us, but that is one challenge to union matters. We have also had some people in administration try to bend the contract or get around it, so union leadership has the job to make sure that we address this when it happens to protect our contract and the rights of our members.”
According to Yan, this time was different. “We had some very honest conversations with administration about OSA's finances,” she said. “They made some promises to do better going forward. I do think they are holding up their end of the bargain.”
Karnes also mentioned this meeting. “We had a really productive conversation with Mr. Oz and Finance,” they said, “where we combed through the budget and asked a million questions. Then we understood that if we were to get that raise, it would put the school in serious financial harm. We compromised and got a 6% retroactive raise, meaning we'll get money back from the beginning of the school year all that time. Then if the school meets its fundraising goals, we'll get bonuses.”
The fundraising goals are a 2% bonus if the school raises 1.2 million dollars and an additional 2% if the school raises 1.5 million. The school has raised $404,000 so far and has events coming up that are expected to boost the count by over 100 thousand. This will easily exceed last year’s amount of 828 thousand, and is on pace to reach at least the 1.2 million goal.
“I feel okay about it,” said Oz on the deal struck in the negotiations. “I wish we could afford to pay our teachers much more. I'm relieved that we collaborated on a solution but acknowledge that there is still much work ahead. Competitive pay and living wage are no longer as aligned as they were a few years back. For us to retain amazing educators we are going to need to continue to strive to provide a living wage, even when other schools are not able to. I am pleased that we have established a process of financial transparency that should make future negotiations a little easier. There were a lot of areas around the school's financial status that were illuminated in this process. Though they are areas of concern, it is helpful to have a shared understanding of the financial picture as we negotiate compensation.”
“While we didn't get the raise we initially asked for,” Yan said, “we came up with a creative agreement that puts money in teacher’s pockets immediately, and offers a bonus if the school meets its fundraising goals. This felt like a win to us.”
“Aside from our financial challenges, I think that we do work mostly in harmony,” said Oz. “It's not always perfect, but we have mutual and reciprocal respect as we all strive to give our students the best possible artistic and academic experience.”
“I'm really proud of the union,” Karnes concluded. “I think it's really hard. I think that it's really hard for a group of people who are as busy, burnt out as teachers, to be putting in so much effort into our collective wellbeing. I'm really proud to be a part of it and I'm really grateful for the work that my colleagues do on my behalf. I feel satisfied.”
“Without the collective bargaining of our union, our concerns weren't really heard,” Jordan Karnes, Literary Arts chair and union representative, said on why it was important for OSA teachers and staff to unionize. “It took us all being in a union to be like ‘we're all unified, all of us are speaking together.’ Prior to that, I feel like it would be like a few outspoken teachers who would get burnt out and then they'd be like ‘whatever.’ Now it's collective, you have a whole team of people that are all looking out for each other.” This is the goal of a union, to present a unified front to their employers so nobody can be singled out, and they can act and negotiate as a group.
Last year, the OUSD teachers went on strike for 11 days. They faced some backlash from parents but ended up getting most of their demands, namely a 15% raise along with safer conditions for both themselves and students. Negotiations between the Oakland Unified School District and the teacher union had been going on for seven months prior to the strike, with OUSD refusing to meet their demands.
“I think that is a perfect illustration of a district not valuing the people who actually make school possible,” said Teddi Pontecorvo, a social studies teacher and member of the leadership team for the union. "Without teachers there is no school, so people need to keep that at the forefront of their minds when they are deciding where money should go.”
According to executive director Mike Oz, the relationship between the union and administration at OSA is different. “I do believe that our environment is uniquely collaborative. We work very closely together and do not have as much separation between management and union as there may be in a district setting.”
The first documented union was during the early 19th century in Manchester, disguised under the name “Philanthropic Society.” At the time, unions were illegal, which they remained until the mid 20th century. Employers weren’t keen on raising wages if they didn’t have to, and anyone who argued could be swiftly fired and replaced. This is what unions fight to prevent. If they are unsatisfied with their employers they have the ability to act as a group, via striking or similar actions. The idea of striking dates back earlier when sailors would strike down topsails and refuse to go out on the water unless their wages were raised.
“When people started working at this school, it was one of the highest paying schools,” continued Karnes. “We slowly fell behind because our salaries were not increasing with yearly cost of living increases. As people who live in the Bay, we know that that hits us so much harder because our cost of living is already higher than most other areas.” OSA teachers hadn’t gotten cost of living adjustments in 10 years, which is one of the main things that prompted these negotiations.
“It is no secret the cost of living in the Bay Area is increasing at a rapid rate,” said Mike Oz, executive director at OSA. “Our contract that we negotiated two years ago had a 16-20% increase in compensation for all teachers, but was quickly outpaced by this increase in the cost of living. Part of that original negotiation was a reopener for year 3 which COSATS had understandably decided they would like for compensation to be the to article of our contract to reopen.”
“OSA has lost over 20 teachers and staff members over the last two years,” added Crystal Yan, a union representative, middle school teacher, and head of the science department, “and our stagnant salaries definitely contributed to that. We knew we would continue losing teachers if we didn't offer them a living wage.”
There have been other negotiations in the past, some of which haven’t ended very well. “Over the past few years there have been times that, instead of negotiating in good faith, OSA has tried to go down a legal route to fight the union, which has not benefited the school,” said Pontecorvo. “I hope this is behind us, but that is one challenge to union matters. We have also had some people in administration try to bend the contract or get around it, so union leadership has the job to make sure that we address this when it happens to protect our contract and the rights of our members.”
According to Yan, this time was different. “We had some very honest conversations with administration about OSA's finances,” she said. “They made some promises to do better going forward. I do think they are holding up their end of the bargain.”
Karnes also mentioned this meeting. “We had a really productive conversation with Mr. Oz and Finance,” they said, “where we combed through the budget and asked a million questions. Then we understood that if we were to get that raise, it would put the school in serious financial harm. We compromised and got a 6% retroactive raise, meaning we'll get money back from the beginning of the school year all that time. Then if the school meets its fundraising goals, we'll get bonuses.”
The fundraising goals are a 2% bonus if the school raises 1.2 million dollars and an additional 2% if the school raises 1.5 million. The school has raised $404,000 so far and has events coming up that are expected to boost the count by over 100 thousand. This will easily exceed last year’s amount of 828 thousand, and is on pace to reach at least the 1.2 million goal.
“I feel okay about it,” said Oz on the deal struck in the negotiations. “I wish we could afford to pay our teachers much more. I'm relieved that we collaborated on a solution but acknowledge that there is still much work ahead. Competitive pay and living wage are no longer as aligned as they were a few years back. For us to retain amazing educators we are going to need to continue to strive to provide a living wage, even when other schools are not able to. I am pleased that we have established a process of financial transparency that should make future negotiations a little easier. There were a lot of areas around the school's financial status that were illuminated in this process. Though they are areas of concern, it is helpful to have a shared understanding of the financial picture as we negotiate compensation.”
“While we didn't get the raise we initially asked for,” Yan said, “we came up with a creative agreement that puts money in teacher’s pockets immediately, and offers a bonus if the school meets its fundraising goals. This felt like a win to us.”
“Aside from our financial challenges, I think that we do work mostly in harmony,” said Oz. “It's not always perfect, but we have mutual and reciprocal respect as we all strive to give our students the best possible artistic and academic experience.”
“I'm really proud of the union,” Karnes concluded. “I think it's really hard. I think that it's really hard for a group of people who are as busy, burnt out as teachers, to be putting in so much effort into our collective wellbeing. I'm really proud to be a part of it and I'm really grateful for the work that my colleagues do on my behalf. I feel satisfied.”
