The Brief

Los Angeles Unified support staff reached a labor deal with the district early Tuesday morning, hours before a strike was set to begin — meaning schools will remain open for nearly 400,000 students.

"The tentative agreement makes strides in addressing key issues raised by school workers in negotiations," SEIU Local 99 said in a statement Tuesday morning.

The district had previously reached new deals with its teachers union and its principals union over the weekend.

”Our commitments reflect the dedication of our entire workforce. We are grateful for the collaboration that made this possible and hopeful that this marks a new chapter of partnership," Andrés Chait, the acting superintendent, said in a statement Tuesday morning. "At the same time, we are clear-eyed about the challenges ahead and know that meeting them will require continued trust, shared responsibility, and a united focus on what matters most — our students."

How did the deal come together?

The unions had given the district an April 14 deadline to reach a deal, or face a walkout. A strike by all three would have shut down district schools and disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of students and the lives of families scrambling for child care.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass joined the negotiations with SEIU Local 99, which continued late Monday night. The deal was announced at 2 a.m. Tuesday.

 ”Over the last 24 hours, we've experienced a lot of lows, exhaustion," said Yolanda Mims-Reed, a special education assistant and member of SEIU Local 99’s bargaining team. “We have not given up. We would not leave anyone behind.  We experienced push, drive, and finally victory.”

The unions had been bargaining with the district over pay, benefits and additional support for students for more than a year. The members of each union voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the power to call a strike after contract talks stalled.

What are the deals? 

District, union and city leaders held a press conference Tuesday morning in City Hall, just across the street from where the strike date was announced about a month earlier.

SEIU Local 99

• 30,000 members include: bus drivers, cafeteria workers, classroom and campus aides
• Contract expired: June 30, 2024
• Deal reached: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
• Approximate annual cost upon full implementation, per LAUSD: $490 million

The union’s proposals included: 

• A 30% wage increase over three years. 
• More hours for workers who don’t have enough to qualify for benefits.

The tentative deal includes: 

• A 24% wage increase
• Increased work hours, which will result in health care coverage for more members and their families
• Rescinding layoff notices for about 200 information technology positions
• The expansion of healthcare benefits to more employee groups, including teacher assistants and afterschool workers

Mims-Reed said expanding members' hours will bring students much-needed support.

“ It's never, ever only about the money,” Mims-Reed said. “We abandon our kids at the end of the day because we do not have the hours to remain on campus and stay with them, and that breaks our heart.”

Now she expects that to change.

About one in five of the union's workers are full time and make an average of $57,000; part-time workers average about $30,000, according to data provided by the union. Many are LAUSD parents and Black and Latina women. Arias estimated the new deal will bring the overall average wage up to about $43,000.

“ We're hopeful that we can start working toward not having workers live in poverty and making sure that we have robust staffing to be able to care for our students, and that we finally achieve clean, safe, supportive schools for all,” Executive Director Max Arias said.

Associated Administrators of Los Angeles (AALA)

• 3,000 members include: principals, directors and other administrators
• Contract expired: June 30, 2025
• Deal reached: Sunday, April 12, 2026
• Approximate annual cost upon full implementation, per LAUSD: $75 million

The union’s proposals included: 

• A 12.5% wage increase.
• The ability to use flex time more easily.

The final deal includes:

• A 12.15% wage increase
• A defined eight-hour workday and a 40-hour workweek 
• Flex time with notice and no pre-approval
• Read more.

AALA President Maria Nichols acknowledged the union was the “new kid on the block” when it came to negotiations. The administrators affiliated with the Teamsters in 2024.

In addition to the salary gains, Nichols highlighted the new “defined, reasonable workday.”

“We know that we work more than that,” Nichols said, noting the weekend events and afterschool performances and games principals often attend. “But we also have the flexibility as professionals to use our own judgment … to get the work done but still have some flexibilities within our schedule.

United Teachers Los Angeles

• 35,000 members include: teachers, psychologists and counselors
• Contract expired: June 30, 2025
• Deal reached: Sunday, April 12, 2026
• Approximate annual cost upon full implementation, per LAUSD: $650 million

The union’s proposals included: 

• A 17% raise over two years. 
• A minimum starting teacher salary of nearly $78,000 — a 13% increase. 
• Changes to the salary schedule so that newer teachers who complete professional development can earn increases more quickly.
• Reducing class sizes and adding more mental health support for students. 
• Learn more. 

The final deal includes: 

• An increase in salary scales by 11.65%. UTLA says the average member will see an average increase of nearly 14%
• A new-teacher salary of $77,000 per year
• Four weeks of district-paid parental leave
• Expanded student mental health supports
• A first-ever 20:1 ratio for special education specialist teachers

“ Teachers will now earn salaries that better reflect the true cost of living in communities that they serve,” Myart-Cruz said.

UTLA’s bargaining team met with the district more than a dozen times since negotiations began last February. The union declared an impasse in December, a legal step that triggered a “fact finding” intervention from a neutral mediator appointed by the state’s labor relations board.

How much do the deals cost? 

The ongoing annual cost of the three labor agreements, once fully implemented, is approximately $1.2 billion, according to a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson.

Chait said Tuesday that the agreements “ in some cases will call on us as a leadership team to find resources.”

Chait gave two examples of how the district might do that. One, through a “a laser-like focus” on the district's current spending, including on third-party contractors.

“We also want to be collectively fierce advocates to Sacramento for the funding that our students frankly deserve and need,” Chait said.

State funding comprises the vast majority of local school funding, and this year’s state revenue projection is higher than expected, in part because of high salaries tied to artificial intelligence.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will release an update about the state’s budget, including for public education, in May.

Whether or not the district could afford the union’s proposal was a matter of debate even for the fact-finding chair, Donald Raczka.

“Due to the complexity of LAUSD’s budget, thoroughly examining these claims would be time consuming and labor intensive — tasks that go beyond the chair’s current capacity given the available information,” Raczka wrote.

The union contended that such an analysis was the fact finder’s key responsibility.

“The failure of the fact finder to even attempt to figure out the finances is a disservice to the educators and students of LAUSD and to the fact-finding process itself,” wrote Brian McNamara, a UTLA director and fact-finding panelist in a lengthy dissent.

In a statement, the district said it “appreciates the report’s balanced, fiscally responsible framework.”

How did Mayor Bass get involved? 

Mayor Karen Bass joined the district’s mediation session with SEIU Local 99 on Monday.

“ I stepped into negotiations to make sure that every effort was made to find an agreement to reach a compromise,” Bass said. “Because a strike would disrupt the lives of hundreds of thousands of kids and their parents who need childcare, need to go to school and need to go to work.”

Bass is also the grandparent of an LAUSD student.

“[My]  daughter was very happy to hear that my grandson was going to school today,” she said.

The Mayor’s Office has no direct jurisdiction over the district. Bass also helped break a negotiating impasse during a 2023 strike that closed schools for three days.

What happens now? 

The district called the deal with SEIU Local 99 an “agreement in principle.” Arias said the economic proposals are secured, but the union and the district still need to hammer out the final details of the contract.

The agreements with UTLA and AALA are more finalized.

The so-called “tentative agreements” would then go before union members and the LAUSD Board for a ratification vote.

Typically, the unions do not present their members with an agreement that they don’t believe will be approved.

The district and unions are also scheduled to be back at the bargaining table within the next year because negotiations stretched so long beyond the contracts’ expiration. For example, SEIU Local 99’s newly won contract will expire in June 2027.

“My hope is that this presents a new day of opportunity for partnership and collaboration going forward,” Chait said.

Lineage has said it is racing to meet Mayor Karen Bass’ 45-day deadline to remove millions of pounds of spoiled food waste from the burned warehouse in Boyle Heights. That date is fast approaching on Aug 14. Here’s where things stand as we’re more than halfway through. 

Cleanup progress

• As of July 20, Lineage has removed approximately 3,520 tons or 7 million pounds of food and building debris. 
• An estimated 3,195 tons or 6.4 million pounds of that total is food waste that has been removed from inside the building. (Before the fire, the warehouse stored approximately 44,000 tons, aka 88 million pounds, of food inside.)
• To date, 56% percent of the damaged roof has been removed, according to L.A. County Public Works.
• This week, Lineage said it increased the number of trucks removing debris from the site.

What’s left to clean up? 

• It’s unclear how much food waste and debris are still left to clean up, but an aerial image of the building from Lineage shows that almost half of the building has been torn down and cleared. 
• At Tuesday’s L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting, Leslie Luke, deputy director for the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said Lineage is now working to tear down a concrete wall that separates “Freezer 1,” which burned in the fire, and “Freezer 2.”
  
  • “… by doing so they’ll be able to get to Freezer 2 and rows of product in there. Each one of the rows is about the size of two football fields, and there are about 28 rows in that second freezer,” Luke said.

Odor mitigation

• Residents continue to report strong odors emanating from the warehouse. 
• On Friday, July 17, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) issued a formal demand letter requiring Lineage to strengthen its Odor Management Plan after receiving over 900 odor complaints.
• This week, Lineage responded to the letter and said:
  
  • They have implemented misting systems to mitigate odor around the building.
  • Food waste is being sprayed down with odor control, bleach and water.
  • Food waste from Building 2 will be sprayed down with a Posi-Lock odor containment system, but the contents of Building 1 are too wet to do so.  
  • They have wrapped the entire building in plastic sheeting and will repair or replace any that becomes damaged or worn within 72 hours.
  • They are unable to wrap the food being removed from Building 1, as it would add months to the cleanup process.
  • The full response from Lineage is available here.
• To report the odor call 1-800-CUT-SMOG, file a report online at aqmd.gov/complaints or download the free South Coast AQMD mobile app to submit complaints from your phone.

LA Documenter Julania Marechal-Raymond contributed reporting for this story. LA Documenters trains and pays LA residents to take notes at local government meetings around Los Angeles. You can find meeting notes and audio at losangeles.documenters.org

This story appeared first on LA Local.

The Los Angeles Metro Board voted unanimously Thursday to move forward with a plan that would create the first-ever seat for a regular transit rider on the agency’s governing board. Such a plan would need state approval before it becomes final.

Janice Hahn, an L.A. County supervisor and Metro Board member, introduced the motion.

Another motion put forward by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass passed on a 12-1 vote. That motion would also reserve a seat — one of the L.A. mayor’s three appointees — for a rider or rider advocate. Both rider seats would have voting power. The make up of the rest of the board would largely remain the same, although members asked Metro staff to further study adding a labor representative.

The L.A. Metro Board has an annual budget of nearly $10 billion and facilitates countywide transportation projects.

Earlier this year, a Metro committee began debating the future composition of its board. The discussion was prompted by Measure G, the voter-approved initiative that will expand the county Board of Supervisors from five to nine members, and add a position for an elected countywide executive.

Five of the Metro Board’s 13 voting seats are reserved for county supervisors. Bass’ motion maintains the five county seats and will leave it up to the Board of Supervisors to decide who, including the county executive, will have a seat on the Metro Board.

Lindsey Horvath, an L.A. County supervisor and Metro board member, cast the lone dissenting vote Thursday on Bass’ motion. Horvath said she supports the inclusion of a rider voice on the board, but had campaigned for a designated seat for the county executive.

“ The county executive will be the only elected seat to represent the entire county of Los Angeles,” Horvath told LAist before Thursday’s vote. “For that position to not be at the decision-making table on something as critical as transit solutions for the region ... makes absolutely no sense.”

The make up of the Metro Board is codified in the state’s public utilities code, so any proposed changes approved on Thursday will need another vote by legislators in Sacramento before they become official.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump feted Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at the White House on Thursday, calling the team “one of the great brands anywhere in the world” during a Rose Garden event celebrating its second title in as many years.

Trump said the Dodgers edging the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 last fall capped “a hell of a series.” He indicated he was surprised to learn that the Dodgers had never before won consecutive titles but also mused about a third in a row.

“I’m thrilled to say welcome back to the White House,” he said. “And maybe I’ll see you again next year.”

The president saluted the team in the East Room in April 2025 to mark their 2024 World Series championship over the New York Yankees. He said before the latest event that he was most excited about meeting Ohtani, whom he compared at length to the legendary Babe Ruth — even saying the Dodgers star was arguably the best hitter and pitcher in baseball.

“It’s truly a great — when you talk about a brand — it’s one of the great brands anywhere in the world,” Trump said of the Dodgers. He spoke in front of a table with two World Series trophies and a Trump 47 jersey, which the team presented to him.

The Dodgers also gave Trump what looked like a replica of a World Series ring. That prompted Trump to exclaim: “Wow. Do I have to report this? I don’t want to report this” before slipping the ring into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

Trump says Iran war has kept him from following baseball closely

Those in the crowd wore blue Dodgers caps to guard against bright overhead sun, and the band played a jazzy instrumental version of Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” before Trump took the stage.

Trump described last year’s World Series’ epic Game 3 during which the Dodgers won 6-5 in 18 innings. Trump said he stayed up until around 3 a.m. to watch, noting that “it was a long one, but it was amazing.”

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani.

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Alex Brandon

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AP

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“I thought it was a game that you were going to lose about four or five times, and you ended up winning,” he said, adding, “Luck is OK, too, right?” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed: “Luck is OK.”

“But with talent you get a lot of luck,” Trump continued.

The president said he spoke briefly with Roberts before the event and learned that his team currently has the best record in baseball, noting, “I’ve been a little busy with Iran and some other things.”

That was his only reference during the event to fighting in the Middle East, which has escalated on both sides in recent days.

Roberts also spoke briefly, saying, “We’re going for a three-peat.”

Championship baseball teams have been coming to the White House since 1869, when President Ulysses S. Grant hosted the Cincinnati Red Stockings. They were the first fully professional team to visit the White House and went undefeated that season, though the World Series wasn’t established in its modern form until 1903.

Sports teams’ visits to the Trump White House have sometimes been a source of controversy. In 2018, the president rescinded an invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles after many players suggested they might skip such a trip.

Dodgers star right fielder Mookie Betts wasn’t at Thursday’s Rose Garden event, though he did make the 2025 visit. He said he prefers to spend the team’s scheduled days off with his family.

The Dodgers originally considered coming to the White House this past April during a series with the Washington Nationals, but a crowded early season schedule didn’t permit that. Instead, they’re in the nation’s capital during the off-day between a just-completed series against the Philadelphia Phillies and Friday’s opener against the New York Mets in Queens.

The White House has changed since the Dodgers’ last visit

Over the past year, Trump has revamped the Rose Garden and added a patio area reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. At Thursday’s event for the Dodgers, he referenced the “ Walk of Fame ” installed on the colonnade, which features plaques of past presidents along with partisan insults against Joe Biden and other Democrats.

“I could put some of the great Dodgers on the wall,” Trump joked, “but I figured maybe it’s more appropriate that we put the presidents.”

Trump, a baseball fan and New York native, has for years been closely associated with the Yankees, whose late, longtime owner George Steinbrenner was a close friend. Trump referenced Steinbrenner on Thursday, saying, “He would do anything to win” before telling the Dodgers’ team owners, “But you’re doing the same thing.”

The president isn’t always so complimentary of teams, though. During a rally in Georgia on Wednesday, he praised the ownership of the local Atlanta Braves and slammed the Mets for their sky-high payroll and losing record.

Trump was joined on stage during that event by former Braves manager Brian Snitker, and Mike Plant, president and CEO of the Braves Development Company.

”You know, the Mets have the highest salary in baseball, and they lose all the time,” Trump said then. "And I’m like, maybe we can steal this guy.”

“There are teams like that, where they never go down,” Trump said. “Then you have other teams — ‘We’re rebuilding.’ They’ve been rebuilding for years. I don’t want to mention teams ’cause I know all the owners. They’re all friends of mine.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Republican Steve Hilton launched his general election campaign for California governor Wednesday with a gambit to win over left-leaning voters who dominate the state: Even if they loathe President Donald Trump, he said, they should consider voting for him.

During an event in Los Angeles, against the backdrop of a stinking, scorched food warehouse he described as a symbol of the state’s political incompetence, Hilton rolled out a list of campaign promises clearly aimed at residents buckling under California’s notoriously high cost of living. He vowed to bring the price of gasoline down to $3 a gallon, about half the current cost, cut residents’ utility bills in half, now among the nation’s highest, and eliminate state income taxes on the first $150,000 in earnings.

He blamed the state’s problems — from homelessness to low student test scores — squarely on Democrats, who hold every statewide office and supermajorities in the Legislature. He called Democrats a “rotten regime that has abandoned the working class.”

In his campaign remarks and ads he took out in leading newspapers throughout the state, Hilton addressed his relationship with Trump, who has endorsed him in the race.

“This is not about who you hate in Washington. It’s about what we love about California and what we can do to make California once again the best place anywhere in the country to start and raise a family, to start and run a business,” he said before a small group of supporters. “That’s what this election is about.”

Hilton’s maneuver is meant to create a sliver of distance from Trump without breaking from him. It’s a tacit nod to the political math in California, one of the nation’s most solidly Democratic states. Registered Republicans are outnumbered nearly 2-to-1 by Democratic voters, and a GOP candidate hasn’t won a statewide election since 2006.

Trump is widely unpopular in California outside his loyal conservative base. In 2016, Trump lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton by 30 points; in 2020, he lost to Joe Biden by 29 points; and in 2024, he lost to Kamala Harris by 20 points.

California is regarded as the home of the so-called Trump resistance, where Democrats have effectively used Trump as a foil in campaigns to motivate voters. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom essentially nationalized the state’s fight over Proposition 50, which recast U.S. House districts to favor Democrats, by framing it as a confrontation with Trump. The measure notched a 29-point win.

The campaign of Hilton’s Democratic opponent, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, scoffed at the notion of Hilton being a change agent.

“Californians already know who Steve Hilton is: Trump’s puppet in California. His campaign is a promise to run our state the way Trump runs the country and we’re not buying it,” campaign spokesman Jonathan Underland said in a statement.

As for Hilton’s pitch that voters who dislike Trump should feel free to consider him in November, Underland said, “Steve Hilton cheers on a president whose illegal war has sent gas prices soaring and illegal tariffs have cost California families more than $2,500 this year alone. You can’t fix the affordability crisis while carrying water for the man causing it.”

In a heavily Democratic state, Hilton’s campaign is hoping his appeal to Democrats and independents will “give voters a permission slip” to look past the letter next to a candidate’s name, even in a nation deeply divided by partisanship.

“You do have a choice if you think that this state is going in the wrong direction,” he told supporters at a kickoff event in Boyle Heights, a Los Angeles neighborhood where residents have been complaining about the stench of rotting food, flies and rodents that followed a fire last month at a cold storage warehouse.

He was accompanied by Gloria Romero, a former Democratic state lawmaker who switched parties in 2024 and is this year’s Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. She delivered her own address in both English and Spanish, with supporters holding “Hilton-Romero” signs in the background.

Becerra, a former state lawmaker, congressman and state attorney general, is heavily favored to win the seat now held by Newsom, a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate who is barred by law from seeking a third term. Hilton and Becerra emerged from a chaotic primary election in June that had more than 50 candidates on the ballot.

The race is unfolding at a time when California is facing multiple crises. Despite billions in spending, homelessness remains widespread, especially in larger cities. Multibillion-dollar budget gaps are projected into the future. Home prices remain out of reach for many residents. The home insurance market is in disarray, businesses and residents have been fleeing the state, and residents contend with some of the nation’s highest gas prices, taxes and utility bills.

Making good on his campaign promises won’t be an easy task for Hilton, a former adviser to ex-United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron who has never held elective office. The governor doesn’t control the oil or utility markets, but Hilton says he will get rid of mandates, taxes and fees that drive those prices higher. He also would likely need the consent of a Legislature controlled by Democrats to change the state’s income tax structure.

Hilton crowned his campaign kickoff with a 30-second TV ad underscoring the financial challenges for many families.

“Life here has become impossible for anyone who isn’t already rich,” he says. “Let’s fix California.”