US: Los Angeles teachers strike after deadline passes

By Vakkas Dogantekin</p> <p>ANKARA (AA) – Teachers in the city of Los Angeles officially began striking Monday. </p> <p>Schools won't close but classrooms will feel the absence of 31,000 teachers. </p> <p>The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) failed to reach terms last week on salary and increased staffing. </p> <p>The last strike in California’s largest city was in 1989 and lasted nine days. </p> <p>Alex Caputo-Pearl, the president of UTLA, the education union that represents certified, non-administrative staff in the Los Angeles area, said the temporary nature of the proposals by the LAUSD forced an impasse.</p> <p>The union also considers charter schools that are federally-funded and privately-contracted as part of the problem.</p> <p>&quot;The problem is that the ascendant political force in the California charter school movement right now is the billionaire-funded corporate charters, the unchecked growth of which will lead to the demise of the civic institution of public education,&quot; Pearl told a public radio station. </p> <p>The strike is expected to take at least two days. </p> <p> </p> <p>