“This is a Struggle to Save Public Education”

Arlene Inouye

The teachers strike wave has reached Los Angeles: teachers there recently voted overwhelmingly to strike. They are fighting against school privatization, wage and benefit cuts, and the nationwide project to dismantle public education.

L.A. School Board Debates Staff Reductions

David McNew / Getty Images


The education strike wave initiated by West Virginia’s wildcat has reached the coasts. Teachers in Washington and Pennsylvania have walked off the job to demand better wages and better schools. And in late August, tens of thousands of educators overwhelmingly authorized a strike in Los Angeles, the second-largest school district in the country.

Jacobin’s Eric Blanc sat down with Arlene Inouye, Secretary of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), to discuss LA’s looming education showdown.


Eric Blanc

Last spring, journalists and liberal politicians tried to paint the education strikes as “red state” rebellions directed only against Republicans. Would you agree that the recent work stoppages across Washington and the threat of a strike in Los Angeles show that the Democratic Party is no less responsible for the crisis of public education?

Arlene Inouye

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