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by\u00a0Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/strong> February 5, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/012926_MMG_Newcomer-rally-07-780x543.jpg\")
The San Francisco\u2019s teachers union has called for a strike to start Monday, Feb. 9. Teachers are expected to walk off the job and picket their schools starting that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The district\u2019s 6,400 educators were informed of the union decision in an email earlier this morning, and United Educators of San Francisco officially announced the strike date at an 8:45 a.m. press conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are announcing the strike here this morning because we want our community and families to be prepared in case the district does not make that agreement in time,\u201d union president Cassondra Curiel told a mix of reporters and parents Thursday morning, standing outside the school district headquarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said educators are intending to strike, but that there is still time for the district and the union to come to an agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A full 97.6 percent<\/a> of teachers last month voted to authorize a strike after 99.34 percent<\/a> did so in a preliminary December vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince the strike vote, SFUSD management has begun exploring creative solutions, but so far, no proposals have been made. The 100+ person UESF negotiations team is scheduled to meet on Thursday and is ready to hear from district management,\u201d reads an email<\/a> sent to the district\u2019s teachers by their union a little after 6 a.m. with the subject line, \u201cOur Students Deserve Stability \u2014 UESF Strike Begins Monday, Feb 9th.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile we appreciate the late-stage urgency,\u201d the letter continues, \u201cwe are left with no other option but to announce that, without an agreement that meets the needs of our students and educators, United Educators of San Francisco intends to strike on Monday, Feb 9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barring a last-ditch turnaround at the negotiating table, it would be the first teacher strike<\/a> in San Francisco since 1979, when teachers walked off the job for more than six weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes after a nearly year-long bargaining effort between the union and the school district over wage increases, healthcare for dependents, special education, and other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission Local <\/em>has learned that, following today\u2019s announcement of a strike date by the teachers union, the principals and administrators union will commence an emergency vote at noon on whether to hold a sympathy strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The online voting period will last 24 hours until noon Friday, and it is all but certain that the principals and administrators will vote in solidarity with the teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Superintendent Maria Su<\/a> and Mayor Daniel Lurie have said their No. 1 priority is keeping schoolhouse doors open, it is hard to conceive of how that would happen during a strike of not only teachers but principals and administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also unlikely that unionized maintenance workers and others would cross a picket line to provide access to school buildings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The strike was called on the morning after a state-mandated fact-finding report<\/a> was released that, legally, gave the teachers union the right to set a walkout date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report was non-binding, and could neither prevent nor even delay a strike. It largely favored the district, but found that the district could afford higher wage increases than it had offered, but not as high as the union desired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The potential walkout is one of several across the state. In Los Angeles, 94 percent<\/a> of teachers voted to authorize a strike, and in San Diego educators greenlit a walkout<\/a> over special education concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In San Francisco, absent a major development, \u201cMorning picket lines will be held at every work site starting Monday, Feb 9.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional reporting by Marina Newman<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of you, Mission Local reached and surpassed our $300,000 year-end fundraising goal. All we can say is thank you. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for choosing to invest in a local newsroom rooted in San Francisco\u2019s communities \u2014 one that listens first and reports deeply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t yet had a chance to give, it\u2019s not too late to be part of this community. Your contribution today helps sustain the reporting our city relies on all year long.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re grateful you\u2019re here \u2014 and we\u2019d be honored to have you join our donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n getbackjoejoe@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Managing Editor\/Columnist. Joe was born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley. He never left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYour humble narrator\u201d was a writer and columnist for SF Weekly from 2007 to 2015, and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine from 2015 to 2017. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year.More by Joe Eskenazi<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018We are left with no other option but to announce that, without an agreement that meets the needs of our students and educators, United Educators of San Francisco intends to strike on Monday, Feb 9.\u2019 by\u00a0Joe Eskenazi February 5, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) The San Francisco\u2019s teachers union has called for a… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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