TLDR

On Thursday May 11, 2023, OEA teachers and allies picketed the construction site of the $57 million dollar OUSD administration building that uses Measure Y funding designated for school building repairs. Rank and file construction workers respected the picket line, shutting down work for the day. This is significant because the workers were under tremendous pressure to cross the picket from their foremen and the Building Trades union officialdom. 

This was a successful escalation of the teachers strike for two reasons: 1) it disrupted and publicly exposed that OUSD is misappropriating parcel tax funds to benefit its administration at the expense of school sites 2) it showed how union members and workers outside of OEA can be invited to act in solidarity in ways that concretely build the united front for teacher salaries and common good demands. 

This was just one action on one day during a open-ended strike, but if we continue to build connections with workers such as those who refused to cross the picket today, then we can forge alliances broadly and be prepared to withstand pressures from both the administrators and managers of the school district, along with withstanding the guilt tripping of union officials who choose to protect their employers. 

Escalating The Strike 

The idea to picket the Cole construction site came from hearing about what happened at Claremont Middle School. Claremont community members, students, and teachers were planning to block the construction site at their campus during the strike. Based on this action, a group of teachers got together and decided to block the construction site at Cole campus in West Oakland, where the $57 million dollar administration building is being built.

As the strike continued and the district continued to stall, teachers were asking, what more can we do? Conversations and brainstorming had been happening in the picket captains’ WhatsApp thread and on school site picket lines. Teachers commented, yes, we’re withholding our labor; yes, our leadership drew some media attention at the beginning of the strike – but how can we escalate the pressure on the district, and bring media attention to OUSD’s mismanagement of public funding?

Disrupting Construction On $57 Million Dollar Admin Building

On Wednesday, an ad hoc group of teachers went to the Cole construction site in West Oakland to investigate the possibility of holding a picket there. They spoke with a few construction workers (iron workers) onsite who said they would respect a picket line. While it was exciting to hear that a few workers would respect the line, they were only able to speak with a handful of workers out of the 20 or so that were there. 

The goal was not only to have these construction workers respect the picket line, but to win them over to take conscious action in solidarity with OEA. In speaking to the workers, many of them thought they were building an “IT building,” so they were shocked to learn that it was actually an administrative building. They were also surprised that the district was spending millions of taxpayer dollars on an administrative building when that money should be spent on facilities for students and educators. 

Based on these interactions, this small group of teachers decided to put out a call for people to picket at the construction site the next morning (Thursday). They quickly organized a press release, prepared informational flyers to distribute to construction workers, and started organizing teachers, parents, and community members across school sites to send members to support the picket at the construction site. Things started moving quickly and gathering momentum when many people responded with commitments to arrive for the early morning 5am shift. Teachers were recruited from a wide range of school sites to ensure there would be no extra strain on maintaining strong pickets at every school. 

Union Officials Get Pressured – The Action Continues

Late Wednesday night, Ismael Armendariz, the OEA president, got a phone call from an official from the Building Trades union. This led the OEA president to make a phone call to organizers of the construction picket and tell them that the Building Trades union would be fined if the picket went through, and that it would be advisable to call it off. He mentioned that the Building Trades union had a “PLA” or Project Labor Agreement, which is basically an agreement between a union and an employing institution (in this case, OUSD) that says that the union will not engage in any work stoppages for the duration of the project, including outside picket lines. 

The fact that the OEA president did not try to force the picket to stop is significant. He could have tried to stop it forcefully, but he didn’t. This is admirable because it allowed the picket organizers to continue with the planned action without an internal OEA barrier. 

The next morning, the OEA members and community allies showed up at 5am. They huddled up and started orienting themselves to the plan, but during their huddle a contractor pulled up in his vehicle, and so the teachers and allies spontaneously pulled together their picket. Picketers attempted to engage the contractor respectfully and tried passing him an informational flyer about the Cole site. He yelled “I’m the boss!” and steadily edged his vehicle forward into the picket, tapping several teachers and shoving the picket line closer and closer to the fence. He ultimately crossed the picket line on foot, and would be the only person, along with 2 foremen, to cross the line that day. No one was injured. 

When the first round of construction workers arrived and parked near the picket line, the picketers talked with them about why they were picketing. A number of cordial conversations happened between the picketers and the construction workers. Several workers acknowledged the irony of the OUSD spending $57 million on an admin building, and that they would honor the picket line and not go to work. A few workers expressed concern over losing a day’s pay. Teachers spoke with many workers and talked about their students’ interest in pursuing construction careers. Through these conversations, workers and picketers were able to come together to discuss the myriad of issues related to the Cole Construction site.

The Building Trades Union Officialdom Try To Stop The Picket – But Fail. 

The rank and file construction workers (iron workers and carpenters) explained that they were waiting for the union to instruct them to honor the picket and go home. Unfortunately, the Building Trades union officials did not do this. Instead of honoring the picket, one union official adamantly argued with picketers that they should immediately stop because the workers had a “no strike clause.”  He also called into question the validity of the picket because Cole was apparently not on the list of OEA picket sites sanctioned by the Alameda Labor Council. (A request to OEA leadership for a copy of the sanction the night before had yielded no response.)

While he was making this argument, the actual workers were mostly standing back silently at their cars, clearly not interested in crossing the picket, nor clearly interested in standing on the side of their union official. The union official then resorted to guilt tripping the picketers by saying that the workers would lose a day of pay. However, it felt clear that his main interest was in protecting the management and bosses and not letting them lose a day of work from their workers. The next day, a worker confirmed they receive a half day’s pay for showing up to a job even if they cannot work.

The picket line felt difficult to maintain due to the ongoing pressure from the union officials and foremen from the construction site. The conversation was monopolized by these managerial types, and the time it took to talk to them created a situation where it wasn’t easy to speak directly to the workers because they were under the supervision of their bosses and union bosses.  This meant that there was no way to ascertain the overall sentiment of the workers nor a good way to agitate them toward a perspective of solidarity with the teachers.   There was, therefore, a risk that the workers would be hostile to a continued picket. The Building Trades union official (who is also a port commissioner) also made it clear he could call the police.  Several media outlets were lurking around during all conversations, which added even more pressure to the negotiations. 

Ultimately, a deal was made between the picketing educators and the Building Trades union official: if the union officials allowed a work shutdown for the day at the construction site, the picketers would not return to disrupt work the following day. 

This was a compromise based on the pressure of negotiating on the picket line, and not everyone was happy with this decision. However, the possibility of creating hostility between teachers and construction workers as well, with the looming presence of the media, led the picket line organizers to make this deal and accept the one day shutdown of the construction project as a partial, but serious, victory. Additionally, organizers made a plan to return to the construction site the next day to speak with construction workers during their lunch break and attempt a follow-up with them in order to build solidarity without the pressures of foremen nor union officials. 

Conclusion (TLDR)

OEA teachers and allies picketed the construction site of the $57 million dollar OUSD administration building, and rank and file construction workers respected the picket line, shutting down work for the day. This is significant because the workers were under tremendous pressure to cross the picket from their foremen and the Building Trades union officialdom. 

This was a successful escalation of the strike for two reasons: 1) it disrupted and publicly exposed OUSD’s gross misappropriation of public funds for the benefit of its administration 2) it showed how union members and workers outside of OEA can be invited to act in solidarity in ways that concretely build the united front for teacher salaries and common good demands. 

This was just one action one one day during a open-ended strike, but if we continue to build connections with workers such as those who refused to cross the picket today, then we can forge alliances broadly and be prepared to withstand pressures from both the administrators and managers of the school district, along with withstanding the guilt tripping of union officials who choose to protect their employers.