Should teachers be allowed to go on strike?

In 2018 teachers in five states have taken unpaid leave to protest the negative effects of low state education funding on the classroom, including on their paychecks.

Have there been any strikes by them? Aren't public employee strikes normally forbidden?

The answers to those concerns have been masked by divergent viewpoints, swift-moving events, and the teachers' blatant political might.

According to Dale Templeton, the National Education Association's director of collective bargaining and member advocacy, "the emphasis of what teachers have been working toward is the condition of the schools and the conditions of the classrooms in which they teach." The National Education Association's state affiliates have been at the center of the walkouts in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. 

She explained that in some states, the legislature is the target of advocacy.

According to the teachers' unions, the recent job actions do not violate state laws (in states where such laws exist) prohibiting public employees from going on strike because the teachers are participating in political speech and action that is directed at legislators rather than their immediate employers. In most cases, state law, not federal law, governs these public-sector labor issues.

According to Alice O'Brien, the general counsel of the NEA, "the educators are claiming that the legislatures are the ones who created these conditions, over many years." Therefore, when there is a dispute between the employees and the local school system, it is not a strike as many labor regulations define it..

The National Right to Work Foundation claims that 27 states have right-to-work laws "for the private and/or public sector," while AFSCME claims that "26 states prohibit fair-share fees or public-sector collective bargaining completely" in legal briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the labor law case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, in which a decision is still pending.

It is against the law to demand that an employee join or contribute money to a union as a condition of employment under a right to work law.

 

 

I think that teachers should be allowed to go on strike, mainly for their paychecks. The rising inflation that is driving up the price on almost everything, is killing teachers' bank accounts. Also leaving them very little discretionary income.

 

Do you think teachers should be aloud to go on strike?

Should teachers get paid more?


Are Teacher Strikes Illegal? Depends Where You Are and Who You Ask (edweek.org)

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  • I really like this topic Drew! The issues are that if you take out the quotes from people, your summary is quite brief. You should summarize these quotes in your own words. The bigger isssue is that you didn't reply to any student comments which is worth 30 points.

  • I think that teacher should be aloud to go on strike because I belilve that what teachers think is what is right.Teachers should be able to go on strike if they think they are not getting paid enough money they should be able to go on stirke.

  • I do think that the teachers shoukd get paid more for what they do. They stay up late grading papers, trying to fogure out the plan for the week and so much more. Even thought they dont work summers they still do sometimes they have to get everything for their classroom and they also put up with a lot of bad students

  • I do think that teachers should get paid more then they do, they work all day and even outside of school hour however they get paid very little. On the flip side teachers should not be able to go on strike, their whole job is to teach students and if they are on strike they they can do that and the students wont be able to  learn any thing.

  • i belive teachers should be able to go on srtrike as i feel they dont get paid enough. I also belive that they dont get enough credit as they teach some children to become millionares while teachers onmly make a couple thousand dollars each year. i feel teachers should make at least 150 thousand dollars each year as they should get paid more than they do.

  • That's an interesting topic. I think that teachers should definitely get paid more. They have an important impact on the future generations. I also think that they should be allowed to go on strike - just like everyone else. Teachers should be able to stand up for their opinions. 

  • I think that teachers should be able to go on strike- just like anyone else in our country. I think that if there is a logical and adequate reason, that anyone should be able to protest about anything that they feel is reasonable. Honestly, I don't think that I understand teacher's situations enough to say that they should or shoudn't get paid more.

  • I think that teachers should be able to go on strike, just because if everyone else can do it, why can't teachers. I also think that they would have good reasons for teachers to go on strike. Like, pay and issues with the school.

  • I absolutely believe that teachers, or anyone who is upset should be allowed to go on strike. There are many reasons that a teacher would feel underappreciated or frankly fed-up with their job. For instance, school system issues, pay, and just overall issues inside the classroom. I think that teachers go through a lot when teaching, and that should be valued and appreciated, not dismissed. 

  • I do think that teachers should be able to go on strike.  We can find teachers to fill in for the other teachers.  I also think that they should be able to go on strike because it goes hand in hand with the 1st amendment.  I think that it wouldn't be fair if we didn't let them go on strike.

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