Members of the Fresno Teachers Association and Fresno Unified officials gather Tuesday morning to announce an eleventh-hour labor agreement to avoid a strike. Photo by Estela Anahi Jaramaillo

Fresno Unified School District and Fresno Teachers Association (FTA) came together Tuesday morning at Fresno High School to announce a tentative agreement to avoid a strike. 

“Our teachers return to their classrooms tomorrow rather than standing on a picket line knowing that we’re charting a different course today,” said Manuel Bonilla, president of the FTA.

Bonilla shared that the new contract will include some major union priorities — some that FTA has been fighting for the past couple weeks. The negotiations were able to bring class size reduction district wide, caseload reductions for special education, competitive pay for teachers and nurses, nurses available at every school site and continued and stable health coverage for district employees, Bonilla said.

The strike would have disrupted classrooms across the district, impacting over 70,000 students. The district and union failed to reach an agreement before the Sept. 29 deadline. 

Nearly 3,450 teachers voted in favor of a strike earlier this month if the district and union could not reach an agreement by Nov. 1. 

Superintendent Bob Nelson shared that after weeks of negotiations, both parties reached the agreement. The parties signed paperwork after the news conference. 

“I was told nine and a half years ago that this moment would not exist in Fresno. Someone said to me, ‘we’re never going to get back to 100% health care for educators and others in Fresno Unified.’ We’re there this morning. Someone said, ‘We’re never going to get back to lifetime benefits here in Fresno for all the 10,000 employees in the system.’ We’re back there this morning,” said Louis Jamerson, executive director for FTA.