Massive strike shutters LAUSD, canceling class for 420,000 students as picketers brave the rain
LOS ANGELES — A massive three-day strike calling for better wages and working conditions for some of Los Angeles public schools’ lowest-paid employees — bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, cafeteria workers and others — began with a rainy start Tuesday, though picketers tried to keep the energy high despite the dreary day.
The striking school employees, joined in solidarity by the teachers union, shuttered the nation’s second-largest school system after last-minute efforts to avert the strike failed, disrupting classes, vital meal services and the daily routine of 420,000 children and their families.
By 5 a.m., when bus drivers typically begin their day, hundreds of district employees joined the picket line at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Van Nuys bus yard, marching in rain ponchos and balancing signs with umbrellas. At other sites, heavy rain soaked the picketers’ paper and cardboard signs.
Employees shouted, “Whose house? Our house!” a tweet from the union showed, and held signs that read “Last straw” and “We demand respect!”
“As a building engineer, I was called an essential
