COMMENTARY

February 11, 2004

Plain talk needed to stop teacher strikes

Washington Education Association (WEA) officials say the legislature has not prohibited strikes and they will continue organizing them until the legislature specifically says otherwise. Kathy O’Toole, a WEA staff attorney, recently told the union’s members:

“. . . [T]he legislature has never prohibited strikes by teachers. . . . [A]t least four times the Legislature has refused to amend the certificated employee bargaining law to prohibit strikes. . . . Obviously, if the Legislature wanted to prohibit strikes by teachers, there have been lots of opportunities—but the Legislature has chosen not to do so.”

So why skirt the issue? If the 2004 Legislature refuses to spell it out, the WEA will continue to thumb its nose at the several dozen court rulings saying strikes are illegal. The union’s argument that “neither the Washington Supreme Court nor the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled that teacher strikes are illegal” holds no water because the union has never appealed any of the dozen lower court rulings to find out if the higher courts concur.

Meanwhile, new and expensive strikes are in the wings—strikes that will fracture other school staff and local communities.

Sure, problems exist in public education, and certainly teachers need a voice in how these problems are solved. But using a strike as a communications vehicle is the wrong way to a remedy.

The solution to this problem has been spelled out by the party in question. What’s left to discuss?

Contact: Lynn Harsh | Senior Education Analyst | 360.956.3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org