Pennsylvania Teacher Strikes: Not Going Away

From leighvalleylive.com

Pennsbury's contract is up next year. Was the strike the last time worth it?

Morrisville's is up in a few years. Is there anyone who thinks the teachers would willingly go along with the Emperor's farm plan? Think about this last line from the article, "...historically PSEA is a very active association that bargains hard with school boards..." Would you willingly sign a contract that eliminated the jobs of more than one third of your co-workers?

Teacher strikes likely to stay in Pennsylvania
Little appetite in Harrisburg for changing law. State among few that allows walkouts.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
By SARA K. SATULLO
The Express-Times

Every time a Pennsylvania school district goes on strike, Harrisburg takes notice.

Eyes are on the Saucon Valley School District this month as its more than 180 teachers head into their second week of picketing -- exercising a right enjoyed by teachers in only 12 other states.

But it is doubtful the renewed attention will result in any major overhauls to Act 88, the 16-year-old law that governs teachers' strikes. Pennsylvania is a union state where collective bargaining is often considered an ingrained right.

"Historically, there's been no appetite on the part of the Legislature -- Republicans or Democrats -- or any governor to take away the right to strike," said former state Rep. Ron Cowell, who is now president of The Education Policy and Leadership Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

Lawmakers sound off

While there isn't support among Lehigh Valley state lawmakers to ban strikes outright or change the law, many warned that shifts in public opinion force change.

State Rep. Karen Beyer, R-Lehigh/Northampton, a district resident and former school board president, calls herself a champion for teachers and education. But she says the strike leaves her scratching her head since the 4.7 percent salary raise offer is so generous.

"Saucon Valley teachers are making it increasingly difficult for legislators who have been supportive of their ability to strike to continue to be supportive," Beyer said.

State Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, is looking at modifying bargaining with secret ballots for teacher strike votes and presentations of offers to a quorum of teachers before a strike vote.

The Pennsylvania State Education Association opposes revising Act 88, although it admits it has its flaws.

"We just think there is the potential to make it worse," PSEA spokesman Wythe Keever said. "We think striking should be a last option but we think it should be a legal last option."

One of the hottest issues on the bargaining table leading to recent strikes has been health insurance contributions.

On Monday, the state House is expected to consider creating a commission that would look at putting all public school employees into a state benefits program, something the PSEA supports.

When unions resist making health insurance contributions, as most taxpayers do, they often lose public support if negotiation details are released, says the Pennsylvania School Board Association.

"(Employee contributions) are happening in every other place of employment, so it just seems very equitable to the public," said PSBA director of school personnel services Tom Templeton. "That is the constant drum beat."

Teachers' strike history

Nationally, teachers' strikes are less than half a century old; the first one took place in New York City in 1960. Pennsylvania teachers earned the right to strike in 1970. New Jersey teachers aren't allowed to strike.

From 1970 to 1991, Pennsylvania saw 775 strikes, according to the PSBA, many of which happened with little notice and for long periods. Act 88 was passed in 1992 in an attempt to preserve the right to strike with limits. Under the act, teachers unions must give 48 hours notice of a strike, and it spells out deadlines if the two sides aren't voluntarily negotiating.

It also gives the state power to step in if the strike is jeopardizing the 180-day school year ending June 30.

Saucon Valley teachers may strike until Oct. 17, when they must enter nonbinding arbitration, according to the law. If either side rejects the arbitrator's recommendation, they can strike again until they hit the point they jeopardize the 180-day calendar.

In the years since Act 88, rumblings about revamping it or even banning strikes have been frequent in Harrisburg, politicians and education officials say. But few gain momentum, Cowell said.

Despite the passage of Act 88, Pennsylvania is still the leader among states that allow teachers to strike.

From 2000 to 2007, 137 strikes occurred, 82 of which were in Pennsylvania, according to a 2007 Allegheny Institute for Public Policy study of teacher strikes. The institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan education research group.

Those numbers can be misleading, warned Keever, the PSEA spokesman. Hawaii has the right to strike but it is one statewide district. Pennsylvania has 600-plus local districts, with about 200 bargaining each year and an average of 10 strikes a year, he said.

The state school board association acknowledges since 1992 there's been a measurable decline in teachers' strikes.

But historically PSEA is a very active association that bargains hard with school boards, which are trying to balance the needs of employees, taxpayers and students.

"All of that mixed together can still cause work stoppages," Templeton said.