In 2018, West Virginia teachers staged a statewide strike which lasted almost two weeks and included schools across all 55 countywide districts. The main reported strike issues for West Virginia teachers included cuts to their healthcare coverage by the state and relatively low salaries. Prior to the strike, West Virginia teachers ranked 48th in…

Since the 1960s, teachers unions across the United States have used strikes or the threat of strikes to influence the terms of collective bargaining agreements with local school districts. In the spring of 2018, teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and elsewhere changed their tack, staging walkouts designed to secure salary hikes and…

Teacher strikes and walkouts in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and elsewhere grabbed public attention last spring, but these wildfires of statewide activism are unlikely to spread far. In most states, teachers have unique and powerful advantages in local politics--advantages they are unlikely to give up anytime soon--and they are already active…

Teachers unions have had a "muscular" presence in some states, but in others, especially in the South and Southwest, the unions have held little power in recent decades, and the growing dominance of conservative Republicans in state legislatures and statehouses was creating a hostile environment with right-to-work (RTW) laws. The…

This article presents the author's views about the school district deconstruction in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He discusses his 30-year experience as a principal and central office administrator with the School District of Philadelphia and his involvement in the efforts to lead urban school reform in the country. He also describes the reform…

The author reviews four factors that contribute to the reduction of the authority and power of teachers: the Far Right, the Christian Right, the standards movement, and the decline in the use of collective bargaining. As a result of these initiatives, teachers are forced to abandon many progressive educational practices and embrace educational…

Presents an analysis of the forces motivating the union and the board of education in the 1979 Washington, D.C. teachers' strike. (IRT)

Profiles Robert P. Bates, director of field services for the American Federation of Teachers. (IRT)

Reviews the concept of the "right" to strike, state laws allowing strikes, and court decisions establishing standards in this area. (IRT)

Reasons for the failure of a teachers' strike are analyzed. (JD)

The opinions of Laszlo Hetenyi on teacher unionism are examined in the light of the writings of William James and John Dewey. (JD)

Argues that binding arbitration undermines the authority of public employers and that school boards should institute due process and the termination of striking teachers under applicable state law in those states in which teacher strikes are illegal. Journal availiability: see EA 511 612. (IRT)

Recounts the experiences of two substitute teachers who crossed a picket line during a teacher strike in a school district of a small western town. Considers the long-term effects and outcomes of teacher strikes. Questions the feasibility of teacher strikes. (HB)

Having served on both sides of the negotiating table, the author condemns the destructiveness of the adversary system and appeals for new forms of communication to replace collective bargaining in education. (Author)

A 1979 law enacted by the state of Connecticut in response to a lengthy and bitter teacher strike may have served as a catalyst to improve the negotiation process. The law mandated a mediation process and compulsory binding-interest arbitration. (Author/WD)