Teachers’ Right to Strike
NEW LEGISLATION
Strike-Free Education Act" (HB 1369) would eliminate school strikes in Pennsylvania
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Which Districts are on Strike? |
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FACTS
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Thirty-seven (37) states prohibit teacher strikes. |
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The vast majority of these 37 states do not forcibly resolve contract impasses by a fixed date. They rely on mutual agreement while prohibiting strikes. They take the principled position that children and taxpayers have a right to expect strike-free education from public money. |
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Act 195 was passed in 1970 which gave teachers a near unlimited 'right to strike'. |
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Act 88 (current law) was passed in 1992 to impose some restrictions on the teachers 'right to strike'. 180 academic days must be completed in the school year. Yet strikes can still last up to a month in duration, and can still occur year-after-year in a school district. The disruption wreaks havoc on the educational process and family life, and the law still allows the union to inflate property taxes by threatening such action. |
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Pennsylvania
remains to this day the "teacher strike capital" of the United
States: |
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Pennsylvania still has more teacher strikes than any other state in the nation. Tens of thousands of innocnet children are regularly ejected from their classrooms: |
2002-2003: 34,000 children
2003-2004: 37,000 children
2004-2005: 14,000 children
2005-2006: 44,000 children
2006-2007: 33,000 children
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In
2005-2006, PA had more teacher strikes (13) than all other states in the
nation combined (7). |
IMPORTANT LINKS
| www.stopteacherstrikes.org |
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| Article and Statistics about strikes from PSBA |
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Article about Current Teacher Strikes from Allegheny Institute |
CORRESPONDENCE
WHAT IS THE STATE SCHOOL BOARD ASSOCIATION DOING ABOUT THIS?
Responsible-ed recently wrote to the President of this organization asking whether the PSBA supported legislation to abolish the teacher's right to strike in Pennsylvania. Following is his response:
To: Responsible-ed.org:
There is no item in PSBA's Legislative Platform that supports
the abolition of teachers' right to strike. PSBA believes that the next step
should be to place financial disincentives into law for striking teachers,
including loss of two days' pay for each day on strike. We also believe that all
strike authorization votes should be taken by secret ballot and that no strike
should be authorized unless a majority of members of a union local
vote to do so.
Association members are given an opportunity each year to submit any changes it
feels are necessary to PSBA's Legislative Platform. We have shared the
information how and when this must be done with the Stop Teachers Strikes group
and I believe they are asking school boards to submit the item for consideration
this year.
Tim Allwein
Assistant Executive Director
for Governmental and Member Relations
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
400 Bent Creek Blvd.
P.O. Box 2042
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
tim.allwein@psba.org
(717) 506-2450, ext. 3325
Cell Phone (717) 574-3005
Toll free (in PA): 800-932-0588, ext 3325
Fax: (717) 506-2476
Visit our Website at
http://www.psba.org/