Where else teachers are primed to strike in 2019 — and why
The first major teachers strike of 2019 is over. The union in Los Angeles reached a deal this month with the second-largest school district in the country that calls for higher pay, smaller class sizes and more support for students.
Don’t expect it to be the last teacher job action of the year. In Oakland, Calif., and Denver, teachers are likely to strike, and in Virginia, teachers are marching Monday in the state capital to demand higher pay and more money for public schools.
Educator unrest may not stop there.
This could become the second year in a row when teachers across the country go on strike, demanding higher pay and more resources for their schools. And they may do that even in states where it is illegal for public employees to do so.
The wave of strikes in 2018 started in West Virginia and became known as the Red for Ed movement, because most of the labor actions were in Republican-led states. Los Angeles, of course, is “about as blue as you can get,” as United Teachers Los Angeles union leader Alex Caputo-Pearl said. It shows that low teacher pay and inadequate school resources are a bipartisan problem.
“There is something pretty profound about that,” he said in an interview. Caputo-Pearl said the Los Angeles teachers strike was the first major labor action since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling in the Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 case, which declared it unconstitutional for public-sector unions to collect membership dues from nonunion members, even though those members benefit from collective bargaining agreements.
After that ruling, labor leaders warned that instead of union activism waning, it could increase as teachers unions move to re-create themselves and take new stands. Caputo-Pearl pointed to the strike in Los Angeles as proof.
“There is a real gravity to it in terms of what kinds of actions the labor movement is going to need to take to show that we are fighting, to show that we are willing to be bold, to show that we are willing to work with CONTINUE READING: Where else teachers are primed to strike in 2019 — and why - The Washington Post
