TEACHERS’ UNIONS IN HARD TIMES
What is the relationship between strikes and teachers salaries and working conditions? Well, according toWilliam Boyd, David Plank, and Gary Sykes, it is a pretty direct link:
In the 1970s and 1980s, teachers’ unions in Michigan and Pennsylvania were among
the most powerful in the United States. They won rapid and substantial gains for their members,
in large part because of their readiness to send teachers out on strike, and they played a
dominant role in school politics and state politics more generally. With the election of activist
Republican Governors in both Michigan and Pennsylvania in the 1990s, however, the power of
the teachers’ unions began a precipitous decline. They now find themselves in an extremel
In the 1970s and 1980s, teachers’ unions in Michigan and Pennsylvania were among
the most powerful in the United States. They won rapid and substantial gains for their members,
in large part because of their readiness to send teachers out on strike, and they played a
dominant role in school politics and state politics more generally. With the election of activist
Republican Governors in both Michigan and Pennsylvania in the 1990s, however, the power of
the teachers’ unions began a precipitous decline. They now find themselves in an extremel
