It’s NOT about the kids: Northshore teachers take next step preparing for illegal strike

Last month, Shift reported on the impending possibility of an illegal teachers’ strike by the Northshore Education Association. The local teachers’ union had sent out a newsletter that outlined this year’s collective bargaining demands — bargaining meetings ended in May.

Tellingly, the newsletter included a call for volunteers to help “coordinate picket activities if we go on strike.”

Well, according to reports, the Northshore Education Association took a step closer to needing those volunteers.

This week, Northshore teachers “overwhelmingly” approved a vote to strike. Essentially, the teachers voted to hold a vote on whether or not to hold an illegal strike — it’s the next step in putting pressure on negotiators by panicking parents in the district. That means that if the union “chooses to use a strike tactic, members will have to take another vote to make it happen.”

MyNorthwest.com reports:

According to the motion, teachers voted on Wednesday, any final decision to strike will happen at the end of summer after negotiations start up again in August. What teachers voted on this week was to allow its union to prepare to strike in the meantime…

According to the motion to prepare for a strike, the union is authorized to:

• Organize picket signs and picketing plans

• Scheduling of the strike vote, or contract vote, meeting

• Contacting members over phone to attend the meetings

• Plan for parent and community outreach and support

• Unity actions at schools on three non-student days before school

The Washington Policy Center’s Liv Finne recently told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson that it is “odd to hear a union talking about a strike so early in the negotiation process.” Certainly, it is odd. But, it’s also grants insight into the union’s intentions.

The illegal strikes—planned so far in advance—are more indication that teachers’ union bosses place their own interests first, not their students. Local teachers’ unions—working off the song sheet provide to them by the WEA they send their dues money to—often portray illegal strikes as an effort to benefit the future of our children.

The reality is that illegal strikes are just efforts to benefit unions, at the expense of children.