Teachers' Strikes: They're Still Illegal, but Effective

In the past week, teachers in Bellevue, Bellingham and Tacoma have used the threat of a strike, or actually gone on strike, during the negotiation of their contracts, which ended just before the start of the school year.

This year's main sticking point? Whether time spent working outside of the classroom--time spent planning, grading, attending teacher training, etc.--is time for which teachers should be compensated.

And while the threat of a strike is very real (and fairly common), the Washington Policy Center points out that Rob McKenna made it clear almost 5 years ago--teachers in Washington State do not have the legal right to strike.

Teacher strikes are illegal, and have been for years. The teachers' union knows it. The negotiators know it.

They also know that striking, while illegal, isn't actually punishable by law. And that it's one of the union's most effective bargaining tools.

But the legality of striking doesn't seem to be slowing the threats (or actual strikes) that have become commonplace at the end of every contract period. Striking and threatening to strike have become the teachers' union's only functional negotiation tactic, and they use it almost every time contracts are on the table.

For those in favor of the teachers' union's right to collectively bargain, the ability for educators, who are widely known to get the short end of the economic stick, to threaten and carry out a strike is paramount--their attendance is their only real bargaining chip, and it essential for ensuring that they are paid fairly and receive all benefits that they're entitled to.

However, striking in schools isn't exactly the same as striking against a corporation. There's no big, thick-walleted robber baron who are left wringing their hands over lost productivity; there are just kids, sitting at home, not being educated, and seeing that the best way to get what you want is to go on strike--especially in a time where, across the board, cuts are being made to essential services and governmental entities, and no one's demands, or even needs, are being met.

Still, around the State, teachers and board members gather, argue, threaten, and deal. Because that is the climate that has been established.

Despite the prayers of kids across the city, hoping that the grown-ups would keep fighting and summer would last forever, Bellingham's teachers and board members managed to work together to ratify their contracts--though they did delay the beginning of the school year by one day, sending kids back to school yesterday. But the negotiations were down to the wire, leaving parents in limbo on Tuesday as they tried to make plans for potentially long-term childcare.

Bellevue's teachers and school district were able to reach an agreement before and days were lost, and school on the East Side started on time, on Tuesday. Educators in Bellevue also nearly unanimously passed a vote of "no confidence" in their district's Superintendent, sending a clear message that they don't feel that she is competent in her position.

Tacoma, however, is still in limbo, until contract wording regarding staffing decisions and furlough days can be worked out.

Several school board positions in Seattle proper are up for grabs on this November's ballots, and the events of the last few weeks are sure to secure teachers' salaries and contracts as one of the top talking points as potential leaders choose sides--on the side of the law, which states that teachers cannot strike, or on the side of the teachers, who are exercising the right to collectively bargain.