Tuesday night an executive with the Northshore teachers union, Tim Britell, told the Northshore School Board that more teacher strikes are coming. At the 5:40 mark on this video Mr. Britell informed the Board that WEA union executives are planning to close schools temporarily across the state.  Strikes are planned for the end of May or early June, possibly extending into September.

Washington’s students are at highest risk of having their schools closed by a teachers strike. Washington leads the nation in teachers strikes. In 2015, three of the twelve largest strikes in the country were strikes called by union executives in Washington.

Strikes are illegal. Most teacher contracts contain provisions that forbid strikes. These are called  “no strike” clauses.  Despite these clear prohibitions, the WEA union routinely calls on teachers to close schools. Union executives use the planned disruption of children’s education to deliver a political message to the legislature.        

As long as the WEA union holds such sway over public education, Washington state will continue to be plagued by these illegal strikes. Charter schools, online schools, homeschooling are choices that insulate parents and children from teacher strikes. The more school choices  parents have for the education of their child, the less conflict there will be.

Many teachers don’t want to strike.  But they are forced to participate.  If they don’t go along with union executives they’ll be fired.

Making union membership voluntary for all teachers would increase social justice and reduce conflict in school communities. Only then will teacher strikes stop hurting the education of children in Washington state.