LAUSD employee strike set to head into third day with no agreement reached

for the nation's largest school district. That's for a second day. LA Unified canceled school as the service workers union continued their strike. That's right. LA Mayor Karen Bass now working with both sides to try and broker a deal. K-Cal News political reporter Tom Wade is live tonight in our newsroom with the latest for us. Tom? Hey, good to be with you.

Suzy and Jeff, well as of right now, our understanding is yes, classes are indeed canceled for tomorrow. Tonight, all parties are being pretty tight-lipped about where negotiations stand, but the service workers union did tell us they still plan to return to work on Friday. LA Mayor Karen Bass is now stepping in to help strike a deal between LA Unified and SEIU 99, the service workers union. For a second day, district service workers walked off the job protesting what they say is substandard pay and working conditions. The workers include teachers, assistants, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and others. While the teachers union is not on strike, many are not crossing the picket lines. I just hope it gets resolved quick.

We spoke with David Rodriguez as he was picking up his young son, a first grader, who spent the day at one of the district's 200 supervision centers in the valley. It's unfortunate not everybody wants this, but sometimes it needs to be done just to have some type of, like somebody hear them out and you know, they have to, you know, let everybody know how, you know, what they have to go through as well too. This program, it's very good because it's free. Yvette Vasquez, his nine year old son, also spent the day at the supervision center. How was today? What did you do? So we basically had fun. We got to play different games. As the district tries to help the kids get through a tough few days, SEIU workers like StarLocka are fighting to get their message out.

They say they aren't paid a living wage or give it enough hours. Locka is a special education assistant. My day consists of changing 20 diapers a day. Union leadership wants a 30% pay raise. The superintendent said the district has upped its offer to a 23% overall increase, along with a 3% cash bonus. In a tweet, LAUSD said district officials have been in conversation with SEIU local 99 leaders with the assistance and support of Mayor Bass. Both sides are being tight-lipped after returning to the bargaining table.

For now, parents and students remain caught in the middle. And while a stressful situation, there is support for the strike. I also understand because that family, I would assume it's the same thing with everybody, not just teachers, I think for everybody in the education. Barring any announcement of a deal tonight, more rallies are planned tomorrow, including one in front of City Hall. Also, we have a link for info about meals and supervision centers that's still on our website, KcalDews.com. Click on the scene on TV section.

Live in the newsroom, I'm Tom Oates. Suzy, over to you. All right, Tom, thank you so much.

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