Who are the Berkeley Federation of Teachers (BFT)?
Over 900 certificated Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) educators including Early Childhood, TK-12, Counselors, School Psychologists, Speech Language Pathologists, Substitutes and Adult Education. BFT is an affiliate of the California Federation of Teachers and a member of the Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO. For 75 years, BFT Local 1078 has provided leadership for the collective voice of our members.
What happens during negotiations?
BFT and BUSD form teams and put together proposals that modify the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Over a course of a couple months, each side makes proposals and responds back and forth until an agreement is reached. Neither party has to agree on a specific proposal to a change and all agreements are mutual. Negotiations are finished when both parties agree on the various issues.
Who is on each side's negotiations team?
BFT’s negotiations team is a representative group from most school sites and departments within our members. BUSD’s team includes district leaders from various departments like Educational Services, Human Resources and Business Services as well as site administrators.
What happens if the parties can’t agree?
Either party can declare an impasse or it can be declared jointly. This triggers a legal timeline consisting of mediation and fact finding. After fact finding, the district can impose their best offer and the union can hold a strike authorization vote and go on strike with 48 hours notice.
What is an “impasse”?
Impasse is declared when one or both parties have reached a point in negotiations such that further meetings would be futile.
Where are we now?
An impasse was declared on November 20, 2025. As you may know, Berkeley Federation of Teachers and BUSD began bargaining in March. Throughout the last eight months, BUSD failed to come prepared and failed to engage in meaningful discussions about important issues. Although we have Tentative Agreements on many proposals, the District has been silent on compensation and other proposals that have a fiscal impact. If statutory impasse procedures don’t produce an acceptable agreement, our union will have to decide if we are willing to strike.
What are the current sticking points in this round of negotiations?
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BUSD only covers 56% of educator health care costs. BFT is pushing for much higher coverage as this is increasingly unaffordable and is a major barrier to hiring and retaining educators.
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BUSD educator salaries are below the average of comparative districts and in some cases, at the bottom. BUSD needs to invest in its staff to prevent high turnover and ensure long term.
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BFT proposed a 5% increase this year and a 5% increase next year to bring us in line with neighboring districts.
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Our school psychologists provide essential services to our students and need a reasonable contractual staffing formula.
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Our current child-rearing leave policies financially punish new parents. The 25% of our income that we receive is eaten up almost entirely by the cost of health care alone.
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Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally changing teaching and learning. Our educators need contract language that ensures proper training and use of this technology.
What has been agreed on?
Some of our agreements include:
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Substitute Compensation Clarity
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504/IEP/SST meeting compensation after the duty day
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Adult School Coordinator Selection
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Counselor Duty Day
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Elementary Report Card Due dates
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Limits and Notification of Contracted Out Positions
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Early Childhood Educators Salary Step additions
Does this mean BFT is going on strike?
Declaring impasse is legally necessary in order to go on strike but does not necessarily mean we are going on strike. There are other legal steps that would need to be completed including mediation, fact-finding and a strike authorization vote. There will be opportunities in the next few weeks before a strike vote takes place to get to an agreement if the District is willing to come to the table with serious proposals.