Working families struggle to find childcare amid LA teachers union strike: 'I don't know what I’ll do'

Parents in Los Angeles are struggling to find childcare for their kids as the Los Angeles Unified School District strike continued, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

Teachers and school administrators began striking on Tuesday to call for better pay and work conditions. Over the past three days, members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99, or the Education Workers United, and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) were seen picketing outside schools around Los Angeles County, the second-largest school district in the country.

While the district and city’s park department set up last-minute "strike camps" for children, Times staff writer Sonja Sharp reported that parents were struggling to use them.

Sharp explained that despite the existence of these camps, several parents were not made aware of them and were forced to make difficult decisions.

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"Some gave up badly needed wages to stay home, while others labored remotely or took their children in tow while they worked," Sharp wrote.

Even parents aware of the strike camps revealed that they were difficult to find and register online.

"I thought, my husband’s working, it’s late, we’re at the airport, lemme just Google it to see what the conditions are," [Paola Tejada Lalinde] said. "I couldn’t find anything easily at all. I wouldn’t know where to start unless I’d heard it from a friend. Even if I had to pay, I wouldn’t know where to go."

Tejada Lalinde said she also worried about her daughter "falling behind." Sharp reported that "the mismatch between need and availability more pronounced than for parents of disabled children," quoting one mom saying families with children on IEPs (individualized education plans) "really got screwed."

I WAS A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER AND I KNOW FIRSTHAND WHAT LOS ANGELES STRIKES DO TO STUDENTS 

Sharp also noted that some parents such as screenwriter Geoff Tock of North Hollywood supported the strike and took his son to the picket line.

"I hope that he’ll remember this, and that he’ll understand," Toff said while in the rain. "There’s plenty of people who died for labor in this country; I can risk a cold."

Parents who support the union and strike seemed to dismiss the concern:

"Because it was limited to three days, a lot of businesses were very accommodating about families either taking time off or bringing their kids to work," while others left their children with grandparents or other family in intergenerational homes, said Jenna Schwartz, an LAUSD parent and co-founder of Parents Supporting Teachers. "I don't know if child care is always the biggest concern."

Nearly 500 schools were closed from Tuesday to Thursday, leaving more than 500,000 students out of school. 

Los Angeles Unified previously announced on Wednesday that strike would continue until Thursday. It is currently unknown whether it will continue after that.

Sharp wrote that parents are concerned about whether schools will close again.

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"Still, virtually all parents said three days was manageable. What worried many were rumors the strike could extend past Thursday, or that schools might close again in the near future," Sharp wrote.

"It will be hard to pay rent, and I might lose my job," Baasansuren Altanchimeg, a Koreatown mother, said. "If it’s more than three days I don’t know what I’ll do."