Oakland public schools teacher's union has given Oakland Unified School District 48 hours to construct an updated COVID-19 safety plan or is threatening to strike.
Oakland Educators Association president Keith Brown said that 72 percent of union members are in favor of the strike if the demands aren't met.
"Tonight, the OEA Executive Board voted to empower me to proceed with an all-member formal strike authorization vote in the event that OUSD does not reach an agreement with us in the next 48 hours," Brown wrote Wednesday night in an email to the union.
Over the course of the pandemic, the district and OAE have reached eight agreements regarding COVID-19 safety, the most recent being in July, OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki told KCBS Radio.
"The District is always willing to discuss new impacts as they are identified by OEA – the landscape is ever changing," he said. "Despite the challenges we are all facing, we are very hopeful that the District and OEA will yet again find a way to reach an agreement."
However, a teacher from Montera Middle School said the union has had difficulty negotiating with the district in past months.
OEA has asked for better COVID-19 safety measures since August, but has seen "very little movement," she told the East Bay Times. "We've been asking for these safety conditions for months and it's exhausting to be begging for things that can save people's lives."
Students throughout the district have been on strike since Jan. 18 to protest unsafe schooling. The district has met two out of three of the students' demands, making N95 masks and outdoor seating area structures available to all. They have yet to implement weekly PCR testing.
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