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United Teachers Los Angeles Collection
URB.UTLA
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: United Teachers Los Angeles Collection
Creator:
United Teachers Los Angeles
Identifier/Call Number: URB.UTLA
Extent:
11.26 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1962-1992
Abstract: The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)
was formed in 1970, through the merger of the Association of Classroom Teachers of Los
Angeles (ACT-LA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Local 1021. At the time,
UTLA was the second-largest teacher's union and the largest merged teacher's union in the
nation. The collection documents the development and achievements of UTLA, and consists of
five series, with the first three reflecting the activities of the pre-merger associations,
LATA, LATA/ATOLA, and ACT-LA, respectively. These series include minutes from Board of
Directors and Representative Council meetings, and an extensive run of issues of the
Hot Line,the newsletter that all three of the associations
published. The last two series deal exclusively with UTLA.
Language of Material: English
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) was formed in 1970, through the merger of the
Association of Classroom Teachers of Los Angeles (ACT-LA) and the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT), Local 1021. At the time, UTLA was the second-largest teacher's union and
largest merged teacher's union in the nation. After the new merger of UTLA and ACT-LA was
ratified in February 1970, the new union was a combined NEA/CTA and AFT/CFT local. A layered
leadership structure was put in place that would ensure representation of each
national/state organization at the highest levels of UTLA.
In April 1970 the newly merged union declared a teacher's strike, demanding a contract.
The strike lasted four and a half weeks, and led to a mutually-satisfactory contract that
was subsequently thrown out by the courts after lawsuits were brought against both the union
and the school board by disgruntled CTA members and a citizen taxpayer group. As a result,
roughly 5,000 teachers left the union, the vast majority of whom were former members of
ACT-LA.
Soon thereafter, each group sought to dislodge the other from the National Education
Association. The dispute started when leaders of CTA asked NEA to disaffiliate UTLA because
of the strike they deemed illegal. UTLA countered by backing a new organization, United
Teacher Associations of California (UTAC) in an attempt to siphon off the more militant
members of CTA, and eventually supplant it as the state organization of the NEA. In April of
1972, an agreement was reached between CTA, NEA, UTLA, and UTAC to dissolve UTAC and give
financial backing, chiefly from the CTA, to help support UTLA. In 1973, CTA once again
disaffiliated with UTLA over a dues dispute. The antagonism between the two associations was
finally buried in 1976, as the CTA once again re-affiliated with UTLA.
The
United Teachers Los Angeles Collection is divided into
five major series:
Los Angeles Teachers Association (1926-1968),
Affiliated Teachers of Los Angeles/Los Angeles Teachers Association
(1967-1969),
Associated Classroom Teachers-Los Angeles
(1968-1970),
United Teachers Los Angeles (1971-1991),
Labor Education Material (1972-1992), and
Non-Manuscript Material (1887-1911, 1972-1989).
Series I,
Los Angeles Teachers Association (LATA), consists of
the minutes of Board of Directors and Representative Council meetings. Also included are
later versions of the organization's by-laws (1966 and 1968) and copies of its newsletter,
Hot Line, originally published between 1965 and 1967. The
files are arranged in alphabetical order and chronologically within.
Series II,
Affiliated Teachers of Los Angeles (AOTLA)/Los Angeles
Teachers Association (LATA),
reflects the activities of the merged teacher
association that would later become ACT-LA. Most of the documents consist of minutes of
Board of Directors and Representative Council meetings from 1967 and 1968. In addition, this
series contains photocopies of the organization's newsletter,
Hot
Line,
running from September 1967 to January 1969. Documents reflecting the merger
of the two organizations are also included in this series. The files are arranged in
alphabetical order and chronologically within.
Series III,
Associated Classroom Teachers-Los Angeles (ACT-LA),
consists primarily of administrative papers and newsletters of the teacher association that
grew out of the ATOLA/LATA merger. It includes Board of Directors and Representative Council
minutes and by-laws. Three different newsletters were published by ACT-LA and are
represented here, including
Hot Line, LA Action,and
News at a Glance. A publication called
Fact
Sheet
and a public relations proposal are also included. The files are arranged in
alphabetical order and chronologically within.
Series IV,
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA),is divided into
three subseries:
UTLA Administrative Records (1970-1990),
UTLA/LAUSD Collective Bargaining (1972-1992), and
UTLA Newsletters/Newspaper (1970-1989). Subseries A,
UTLA
Administrative Records,
consists of administrative records, including minutes from
Board of Directors and Representative Council meetings. Subseries B,
UTLA/LAUSD Collective Bargaining, includes minutes of negotiating meetings,
reports to fact-finding panels, and drafts of contracts agreed to by UTLA and LAUSD.
Subseries C,
UTLA Newsletters/Newspaper, contains the union's
newsletter,
United Teacher, spanning from February 1970 merger
to July 1989. The files are arranged in alphabetical order and chronologically within.
Series V,
Labor Education Material, encompasses educational
materials issued by various local, state and national organizations and agencies, including
AFT, CTA, NEA, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the U.S. Department of Labor, among
others. The files are arranged in alphabetical order by author and chronologically
within.
Series V,
Non-Manuscript Material, includes audio cassettes,
video tapes, and organize labor posters.
Series I: Los Angeles Teachers Association (LATA), 1962-1968
Series II: Affiliated Teachers of Los Angeles (ATOLA)/Los Angeles Teachers Association
(LATA), 1967-1969
Series III: Associated Classroom Teachers-Los Angeles (ACT-LA), 1968-1970
Series IV: United Teachers Los Angeles (ULTA), 1971-1992
Subseries A: UTLA Administrative Records, 1970-1990
Subseries B: UTLA/LAUSD Collective Bargaining, 1972-1992
Subseries C: UTLA Newsletters/Newspaper, 1970-1989
Series V: Labor Education Material, 1972-1992
Series VI: Non-Manuscript Material, 1887-1911, 1972-1989
Related Material
Other Information:
The finding aid for this collection was revised in December 2004, in part under a gift
from the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
United Teachers Los Angeles, 02/01/1994
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
Robert G. Marshall, Brett Arena, and Yadhira V. Contreras, 1999
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Documents
Audiovisual materials