Teachers Right to Strike Upheld Across Washington State

Teachers Right to Strike Upheld Across Washington State

By Joseph Hancock

Editor, Labor Today

They strike for their wages. Benefits and pensions. AND FOR THEIR STUDENTS. 
‘Strike reported across the country and Washington state’

The fight to defend public education began with an illegal strike by teachers in West Virginia, tired of low pay, no benefits, and deteriorating classrooms and old textbooks. The campaign was dubbed ‘red for ed.’

This strike movement spread like wildfire across the United States in very conservative areas like Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona.

The present strike by teachers in the state of Washington in the Pacific Northwest continues this national movement to defend public education, to honor teachers and their profession and to fight most importantly for the students that are our future artists, scientists, builders, and health care providers.

     

the start of the school year has been delayed, affecting more than 75,000 students in southwestern Washington state after teachers and districts failed to reach contract agreements, at odds mostly over salaries.

Teachers in seven school districts were on strike Wednesday, according to the Washington Education Assn., which represents state teachers.

More walkouts are possible in the state as the teachers’ union and the various school districts try to negotiate salary agreements.

Educators in Seattle — the state's largest school district — voted Tuesday to authorize a strike unless a deal is reached by the time classes are set to begin on Sept. 5. Unions representing educators in other cities have also authorized walkouts. As with all of the other states before them, Washington is confronted by a crisis in public education led by the Trump administration. The point person leading the attacks on teachers and their professionalism is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

The strategy of the Trump fascist gang is to destroy public education in the United States by channeling all public funds to private charter schools, leaving the public schools with out funding to provide quality education.

Without realizing it, Trump and his minions like DeVos and the Charter school movement have ignited a firestorm of opposition and resistance to cuts in public education, even among conservatives.

In the recent primary election in Oklahoma, for example, every Republican that opposed the teachers’ contract demands was defeated by pro-education Republican candidates, indicating a deep divide in the Republican party. Education is not a left vs. right issue. It’s not an ideological question. The right to a quality education goes to the very fabric of who we are as a people. Even conservatives understand that our public funds should not be handed over to private religious institutions, selecting students they choose while casting others aside. With teachers rising up, led by their union, the National Education Association (NEA), TDA news columnist Mallory Gruben reports from Longview, Washington that representatives from the Washington Education Association teachers’ union say the levy cap won’t impact districts as negatively as districts claim.

“What people aren’t understanding is that McCleary was all about increasing school funding, and every district will have more money as a result. That message is being lost,” said Linda Mullen, WEA spokesperson.

This year’s legislation capped local levies to ensure the state will bear the brunt of basic education funding. For years, the state had allowed local levy increases because it was inadequately funding education, Olson said, and local funding was starting to surpass state contributions.

“This began over a decade ago when WEA and a bunch of organizations, including the school districts, got together and filed what became known as the McCleary lawsuit because the state was chronically under-funding state education,” Mullen said.

The cap also creates equality between “rich” and “poor” districts locally. Previously, districts with higher property values could out-raise other districts, even with lower local levy rates.

She says that one of the reasons that teachers, a field that is 77% female, are underpaid because they are women.

“This teacher movement is being led mostly by women because most of the teachers are women and it’s also one of the reasons why teachers are so under attack,” says Scott. “As so often in fields led by women those are the fields that are seen as most vulnerable by politicians.”

In Washington things are different. The Supreme Court in the state has ruled that teachers have the right to strike, that their strike is constitutional partly because of the state law that says that education must be funded. U.S. News and World Reports is reporting that the state had been under a Washington Supreme Court order to fully fund K-12 basic education. In late 2017, the court ordered the state to speed up its school-funding plan to meet a Sept. 1, 2018, deadline, and lawmakers responded with the additional money.

Local unions representing teachers have said districts now have the money to give teachers competitive salaries. But some school administrators have said they also have to balance that with the need to provide other services.

The message is being delivered loud and clear across the United States that “education is a right, not a privilege.” Public education will be defended and the teachers and the communities they serve are united on this issue. A sleeping giant has awakened.