Top Takeaways
- West Contra Costa Unified teachers are threatening to go out on strike as early as this coming week if demands for higher compensation and other benefits are not met.
- The district is one of at least a half dozen districts known to have reached an impasse in negotiations in California.
- The fiscal fallout of declining enrollments along with rising costs is putting pressure on districts, making labor negotiations difficult.
Along with at least a half dozen school districts in California, the West Contra Costa Unified School District is struggling to break an impasse in labor negotiations with teachers at a time of declining enrollments and rising costs for both schools and employees.
In West Contra Costa Unified, which includes the city of Richmond and four surrounding communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, the district is bracing for a possible strike that union leaders say they might call this week if their demands for higher compensation and other issues are not met.
In a report issued on Friday, the chair of a three-person fact-finding panel set up by the California Public Employment Relations Board recommended a 3% wage increase for teachers this year and another 3% next year. That is less than the 5% a year sought by the union…