The Oakland teachers union, one of the city's most powerful political forces, has won a significant battle against the school district after a state labor board found that the union's 2022 labor strike was legal.
It is a familiar late-game push by labor organizers in the final days before the Nov. 7 election, which may shift the balance of power in the cash-strapped Oakland Unified School District to either its administrators or the teachers union.
The Oakland Education Association has sought to divert teachers' anger over terrible conditions into support for the same Democratic politicians who planned the budget cuts and school closures.