After a powerful week-long strike, Los Angeles teachers on Tuesday evening voted by a super majority to approve a new settlement with the school district. By withholding their labor and winning overwhelming public support, strikers were able to wrest major concessions from a billionaire superintendent intent on privatizing the district.

Some of the most important wins for LA public schools include: a full-time nurse in every school, as well as additional counselors and librarians; the elimination of Section 1.5 of the contract (that allows the district to ignore class size caps); a steady decrease in class size across the board; a 6 percent pay raise with no trade-off health-care concessions; increased union oversight regarding charter co-locations; political support for a statewide moratorium on charters; and a wide range of steps forward regarding common good demands such as expanding community schools, ending racist “random searches,” building green spaces at schools, and establishing an immigrant defense fund.

Though Tuesday’s voting process was unfortunately rushed into a few short hours, a vast majority of LA educators nevertheless feel that this is a historic victory for public education in LA and across the country. After Tuesday’s massive victory rally in front of City Hall, Jacobin’s Eric Blanc sat down with United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) leader Arlene Inouye to discuss the strike’s meaning and impact.