When is a strike not a strike? Evidently, if you’re Jay Inslee, when a major campaign donor tells you it isn’t one.
During a radio interview with KIRO’s Dori Monson, Jay Inslee refused to call the recent illegal teachers’ strikes—coordinated by Washington Education Association (WEA) through local union affiliates — for what they are… strikes. Rather, our green governor chose to use wording that was likely provided to him in talking points from the union, claiming that the strikes are not strikes, but “protests.”
Here’s what Inslee said,
“I would obviously rather have teachers teaching than walking and protesting… I look at this as a protest against a long overdue problem where we have not given [teachers] the resources to get the job done. While I do not approve it, I certainly understand it.”
As Shift reported, teacher strikes are illegal in Washington State and union executives know it—though they are lying to teachers about it. Apparently, Inslee and teachers unions believe altering the word “strikes” to “protests” will make them more acceptable.
Inslee’s reference to the illegal strikes as protests is, in the end, just another example of how far he is willing to ignore the law in order to support his million-dollar campaign donors. This isn’t the first time Inslee has catered to teachers unions at the expense of working families and children, and it won’t be the last.
Inslee went on to insist that he is “empathetic” to the teachers unions’ cause and pointed to the influx of homeless children—he cites 30,000—who teachers are “expected to deal with.” The example Inslee chose is rather ironic given the fact that the WEA attempted to shutdown a charter school designed to cater to homeless children in Seattle. The WEA’s attack on the school came as part of its lawsuit to shutdown charter schools—the money-grabbing union views them as a threat to their financial interests—and ban children from attending them.
You can check out the full interview here (approximately minute 18).
When you’re purchased by the WEA, you gotta toe their line.
Protest. Classic! Typical Obama liberal double talk. Jay Inslee is a Jackass!
Okay, let law enforcement and firefighters “protest” for a day and see what Inslee and others have to say.