Strike

Amid the on-going teachers strike in West Virginia, now Oklahoma teachers are considering a strike over the failure to raise salaries.

Oklahoma is ranked 49th in the nation in teacher salaries, according to a 2016 study by the National Education Association. The average elementary school teacher makes $41,150, middle school teachers earn $42,380 and high school teachers make $42,460, according to a 2016 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The last time teachers were given a raise was 2008, the Oklahoma Education Association says. On top of that, the education budget has been cut by about 28% over the last 10 years.

Update:  Just today, the Governor of West Virginia signed a bill giving a 5 percent raise to teachers and state employees. The strike is over, but the state will pay for the raises with budget cuts in other areas.

Update (March 15):  More about the implications of the strike. Amy Traub:

Faced with jobs that don’t pay enough to make ends meet, health-care costs that break the budget, and public services exposed to countless rounds of cutbacks despite a growing economy, working people will push back.

Update (March 29):  Even though the Oklahoma Legislature passed the first tax increase since 1990, teachers there say it doesn't make up for ten years of neglect and plan to go on strike.

Update (March 30):  Oklahoma is on the verge and Kentucky has had some school closures.

Update (April 2):  Oklahoma is now on strike. And a rally in Kentucky.

Thousands of teachers and public workers from across Kentucky flocked to the state Capitol on Monday morning to protest potential budget cuts to public education and the passage, last week, of a controversial package of changes to the state’s public pension system that teachers had opposed.

Update (April 4):  Oklahoma Republicans aren't happy.

Update (April 8):  Arizona could be next.

Also, Dave Jamieson and Travis Waldron look at the history of teacher strikes.

There’s a short explanation for why these low-tax, GOP-controlled states are now facing rebellion: They have slashed public school funding significantly since the Great Recession, while also pursuing many tax cuts that have benefited businesses and the wealthy. The budget shortfalls that austerity has created have left no money to pump into schools or salaries, leading to teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and even four-day school weeks in Oklahoma. Teachers forced to take on second or third jobs have finally decided they’ve had enough.

But the longer explanation stretches back a full generation, to when teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky last walked off the job.

The work stoppages led to meaningful raises and investment at the time. But the promise they held eventually lost out to the anti-tax ideology of both legislators and voters.

Update (April 26):  Walkouts today in Arizona.

Update (May 11):  Nicole Braun notes that adjunct instructors don't necessarily get as much attention as striking public school teachers.

Update (May 16):  North Carolina teachers held a large protest.

Update (June 10):  Henry Giroux writes in support of striking teachers.

Under the current era of neoliberal fascism, education is especially dangerous when it does the bridging work between schools and the wider society, between the self and others, and allows students to translate private troubles into broader systemic considerations. Schools are dangerous because they exemplify Richard J. Bernstein’s idea in "The Abuse of Evil" that “democracy is ‘a way of life,’ an ethical ideal that demands active and constant attention. And if we fail to work at creating and re-creating democracy, there is no guarantee that it will survive.”

... 

Rejecting the idea that education is a commodity to be bought and sold, teachers and students across the country are reclaiming education as a public good and a human right, a protective space that should be free of violence and open to critical teaching and learning. Not only is it a place to think, engage in critical dialogue, encourage human potential and contribute to the vibrancy of a democratic polity, it is also a place in which the social flourishes, in that students and teachers learn to think and act together.

Update (January 14, 2019):  United Teachers Los Angeles rejected a contract offer last Friday and now over 30,000 union members are on strike for the first time in 30 years.

The union’s demand for reduced class sizes (some classes have more than 40 students) and more support staff are at the heart of the negotiations. The union also seeks a 6.5-percent raise, but union leaders say salary is only one piece of a puzzle. They also point to such shortfalls as elementary schools only having a school nurse one or two days a week, which the union says risks children’s safety.

Update (January 16, 2019):  Glenn Sacks reports on the Los Angeles teacher's strike.

One of the best things about the LA teacher revolt is the way it has helped wake the country up about the charter scam. Many articles in recent days have debunked the myth that charters are better and have detailed the way they’ve damaged traditional schools.

It was especially satisfying today at our massive rally outside the offices of the California Charter Schools Association’s offices downtown. The CCSA bought the LA School Board (in what was the most expensive school board election in US history) and the boardmembers they bankrolled installed Beutner as superintendent. Today the ladies and gentlemen of the CCSA no doubt looked out their office windows and realized that they’d been made.

Update (January 22, 2019):  The UTLA has reached an agreement that will end the strike after six school days.

Update (February 6, 2019):  Today marks 100 years since the Seattle General Strike. Steven Beda sees an important lesson even though the strike failed.

For today’s workers tired of decades of wage stagnation and fleeting benefits in the gig economy, the Seattle General Strike offers an important lesson about the power of organized laborers: When united, workers can take on the most powerful foes.

Update (February 11, 2019):  Denver teachers are on strike for the first time in 25 years.

Update (February 18, 2019):  West Virginia teachers announce another strike over charter schools.

Update (February 21, 2019):  With the charter school bill tabled, the West Virginia strike has ended. And now Oakland teachers are on strike.

Update (March 1, 2019):  The Oakland strike has ended with a significant raise and smaller classes.

Update (October 16, 2019):  Chicago teachers are going on strike.

Update (November 2, 2019):  The Chicago Teachers Union has reached a settlement.