Teachers on Strike... are in Violation of the Law

by Bob Williams

Since Tuesday, teachers in the Lake Stevens School District have been out walking the picket lines. There are many things wrong with this strike, first and foremost the fact that is against Washington state law.

That’s right: Against the law.

Whether the teachers are aware of it or not—and their union representatives should be, those educators who fail to report for work are in violation of state law (RCW 41.56). The relevant section of the statute states that "nothing in this chapter [on public employment labor relations] shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his official duties."

The timing of this strike is of another concern. Why, when both sides had nearly three months from the time school recessed for the summer in early June, did the bargaining only get going in earnest last week? A student in Lake Stevens got it right when he remarked, "They should of done this in the summer, while we weren’t in school."

For the record, the prohibition on public employment strikes has been in effect in the state since 1958. The state’s Supreme Court ruled that year in Port of Seattle v. International Longshoreman’s and Warehousemen’s Union that while public employees do have the right to organize and collectively bargain, they do not have the right to strike. A subsequent court ruling in 1972 (Roza Irrigation District v. State of Washington) endorsed this finding. Three years later the legislature codified this particular prohibition into law with the Educational Employment Relations Act (RCW 41.59). Although the act gives step-by-step procedures for resolution of the conflict and it appears, after initial hesitation by the union in Lake Stevens, the two sides are following this particular part of the law, it does not allow for teachers to walk out of the classrooms and strike.

This viewpoint is neither anti-union or pro-school district. There has been a critical lapse of judgment by both sides in this labor dispute: Union leaders are choosing to openly ignore a law they know is on the books by encouraging teachers to strike in flagrant violation of the law, and school district officials, in their failure to issue injunctions against striking teachers, are violating their duty to make sure that both educators and their students are in the classroom for the beginning of the school year.

It is now up to the parents and other citizens in Lake Stevens to take the initiative and demand that their school board take immediate action and get teachers back in the classroom. Injunctions should be issued against those teachers out on strike and appropriate penalties levied for non-compliance with the state’s law.

In addition to this, school district negotiators should never agree again to a contract which ends during the first week of the school year. Irrespective of the other issues involved in the negotiations in Lake Stevens, it is imperative that, as a part of any future labor agreement in Lake Stevens, as well as in future agreements across the state, the two sides agree to end all contracts on the last day of the school year, not the first. Future labor impasses should not in any way find public school students out of the classroom during the school year. While union leaders would argue such contract deadlines would hamper their leverage in bargaining negotiations, what matters most here are the educational interests of Washington’s public school students.

As Washingtonians and Americans we pride ourselves as living in a society which abides by the rule of law. Whether you support or oppose the Lake Stevens teachers in this matter, the fact remains that public employee strikes are against the law in Washington state. The silence on the part of both union and school district officials undermines this bedrock principle of our society. We owe it to the taxpayers of this state, parents in Lake Stevens, and especially the children, who are sitting at home rather than in a classroom, to see that this law is enforced and the teachers return to the classroom.

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