Los Angeles teachers join support staff strike, impacting a half-million students [Video]

WASHINGTON (TND) — Teachers in Los Angeles joined a strike on Tuesday, effectively stopping classes for a half-million students in the nation’s second largest school district.

The strike came after negotiations broke down between the school district and a union representing education support staff such as cafeteria workers, custodians and bus drivers.

Following the communication breakdown between the district and Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, the members of United Teachers Los Angeles – the L.A. teachers’ union – said they would not cross the striking support staff’s picket lines.

“These are the co-workers that are the lowest-paid workers in our schools and we cannot stand idly by as we consistently see them disrespected and mistreated by this district,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a news conference.

Thirty thousand teachers joined therefore effectively join the strike as a show of solidarity.

We’ve run out of time. I made myself available alongside my team for hours … hoping that we would …