As California goes, so goes the nation
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The Washington Free Beacon notes that the union has issued its new contract proposal, which calls for opening high school parking lots for homeless families to park. It even admits that the move would come with a cost of $500,000 for security. It also wants free laundry services for families in the district, access to mental health services 24 hours a day, and free weekend yoga and meditation classes during the weekends.
According to a piece in The Daily Caller, the yoga/meditation sessions for union members would run $1 million. Included in that demand is a $ 1,000-per-year spiff for union members who consistently attend a dojo or yoga studio for a minimum of 100 days. While the costs of the laundry and mental health services have not been disclosed, the ersatz campground and yoga allowances will make for a heavy price tag. That tab will be handed to the taxpayers. Residents of Fresno will be the ones to foot the bill for union members to enjoy a session of hot yoga before a mimosa brunch on a Sunday afternoon.
The union's effort to turn its parking lots into homeless safe havens reflects a broader push from teachers' unions across the country to use their bargaining power to actualize left-wing priorities. In nearby Oakland, for example, unionized teachers in May shut down the city's public schools for two weeks after demanding reparations for black students in their contract proposal. Unionized teachers in Portland, Oregon, similarly threatened to strike if their district refused to provide subsidized housing for poor students.
While some public districts have caved to those demands—Oakland Unified School District agreed to provide housing assistance for homeless students in order to end the May strike—Fresno Unified School District has not budged. The district's superintendent, Robert Nelson, last week questioned the homeless parking lot proposal, arguing that it isn't the district's "area of expertise." Thousands of teachers are thus on track to strike following a union vote on October 18, not long after students returned to school in August.
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The last collective bargaining agreement between the union and its district ended on June 30, but negotiations have been ongoing since November 2022. In May, the Fresno Teachers Association vowed to strike if an agreement was not met by September 29. Bonilla during a recent radio appearance echoed that threat, saying the district is "really pushing us towards that."
The district, by contrast, points to an offer it extended to the union that would increase the average teacher salary in the district to roughly $100,000. Other union proposals, Nelson argued last month, could threaten the district's financial future.
"I’m not going to make any decisions that I think would put the district in long-term fiscal danger," he said.
