Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1539593
How Sac City Teachers Built a Movement for Sacramento Students By Julian Peeples " W H E N E V E R W E ' R E A B L E to improve our working condi- tions as teachers, we're able to improve our students' learning conditions," says Sacramento City Teachers Assn. (SCTA) Pres- ident Nikki Davis Milevsky. "at's been a guiding value for our union throughout our fights, which keeps us grounded in why we're all here: to support all Sacramento students." In late-June, SCTA won a historic contract that includes landmark language on artifi- cial intelligence. "It's the first time in a generation that our successor contract was settled prior to the expiration of our current contract," says Davis Milevsky, a school psychologist. "is victory was made possible by our deep organizing to build power at every site in the district." Setting the standard for local chapters in our union's We Can't Wait campaign and beyond, the win includes an 8.5% pay increase over two years, contractual staffing ratios to ensure stu- dents have the access they need to school social workers, school psychologists and speech language pathologists, and other con- tract improvements. In Spring 2022, SCTA went on an eight-day strike. Since then, wages have increased by 30%, with special education staff salaries increasing by 38% and speech language pathologists by 46%. Substitute teachers, also represented by SCTA, are the highest paid in the nation. It was the latest in a string of impressive wins for SCTA mem- bers, their students and Sacramento public schools, which has transformed Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) from a place that educators avoided to a real "destination district" — where SCTA has organized and won the highest educator pay in the county and a contractually guaran- teed voice on nearly everything that impacts educators and students in SCUSD. SCTA's story is a blueprint for locals on how to orga- nize, build power and win real change that helps families and communities. "What union members and parents have won in Sacramento is a powerful testament to what our organizing can achieve," Davis Milevsky says. "If we can do it, every CTA chapter can." Sac City TA's decade of determination for SCTA was built through the collective efforts of educators, the belief that better was possible and the commitment to make it so together, which permeated each of the following major milestones. SCTA and SEIU Local 1021, representing the school district's ESPs, showed #SacCitySolidarity in 2022. "What union members and parents have won in Sacramento is a powerful testament to what our organizing can achieve. If we can do it, every CTA chapter can." —SCTA President Nikki Davis Milevsky ORGANIZING to Win 34 cta.org Organizing