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Striking LA teachers turn to social media to shame substitutes

Some striking Los Angeles teachers are trying to teach picket-line crossers a lesson — by posting their names on social media.

“These subs crossed our picket line,” Deanna Cambell posted on Twitter Monday — with a list of substitutes working to keep the second-largest school system in the nation open.

Only a third of the students showed up for classes Monday, the first day of the strike, costing the district $25 million in state funding based on attendance, according to the Los Angeles Times. After subtracting $10 million in unpaid wages for the strikers, the district lost $15 million.

The students who did go to school were taught by a skeletal staff that struggled to keep them engaged.

“It’s clearly having a big impact,” Los Angeles schools Superintendent Austin Beutner said. “We need our educators back in our classrooms inspiring students.”





Meanwhile, some students joined the United Teachers Los Angeles union and its 31,000 members on the picket line with their parents.

“My parents support me,” high school sophomore Rea Angeli told the Times, adding she plans to be out on the picket line until Wednesday. “Teachers do a lot for us.”

“After the strike, it’s better not to go back to school,” the 15-year-old said. “You’re crossing the picket line. It’s not helping the teachers. If you can [avoid going to] to school, it’s a little action. It helps them a lot, so why not do it?”

The Teamsters Local 399 union urged production companies filming at school locations to stand with them too.

“Teamsters don’t cross picket lines!” the union said, according to Deadline. “If you are filming on a location at a school that has an active picket line you do not have to cross. We urge members to stand in solidarity with educators by honoring their picket lines.”

Educators are demanding better pay, smaller class sizes and more support staff in the union’s first strike in the City of Angels in 30 years.





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