LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Thousands of service employees and teachers braved the rain and began picketing Tuesday at the Van Nuys Bus Yard, with more picket lines and rallies scheduled for Robert F.
Kennedy Community Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters in Los Angeles, the start of a three-day planned walkout.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: LAUSD strike: What you need to know about school closures, resources availableWith labor talks at a standstill and no new negotiations scheduled, LAUSD campuses will be closed Tuesday and likely through Thursday as service workers begin a planned strike -- leaving more than 400,000 students without classes.The 30,000 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 99 -- including cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and others -- started picketing at 4:30 a.m.
Tuesday. The roughly 30,000 members of the powerful teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, will honor the picket line.RELATED: LAUSD closing schools Tuesday amid worker strikeLAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a late-afternoon news conference Monday that he had hoped on Monday to have "a transparent, honest conversation" that might result in an agreement to stave off the planned three- day strike, but it never happened.More than 30,000 cafeteria workers, bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants and more are preparing to strike on Tuesday."We were never in the same room, or even in the same building," he said.Carvalho also said he was still holding out hope that some talks can take place overnight or Tuesday -- potentially reaching a deal that will prevent the work stoppage from continuing for the entire three days.In the meantime,.