Los Angeles’ 31,000 teachers are finishing up their first week on strike with no end in sight. This is in spite of the fact that both the teachers’ union and the school district, the nation’s second-largest, want to spend more money. The sticking point is that the district can’t financially afford or legally spend as much as the union demands.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Unified School District both want teachers to be paid more, class sizes to be reduced, and more support staff hired. But these items are expensive and run headlong into the fiscal wall created by big employee benefit promises to retirees. Pensions and retiree healthcare commitments now threaten the district with insolvency if it accedes to the union position.