Wall Street Journal: Illegal School Strikes in Washington
The Wall Street Journal editorial Board covered the strikes at Evergreen Public Schools and La Center, both in Clark County. Future 42 has covered this issue as well. From the WSJ:
Rather than strike, the union members could have kept working for a year under the last contract’s terms, according to the district. Washington law doesn’t protect strikes by public employees, and court rulings have said they’re illegal. “No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute,” said a 2006 state Attorney General opinion. Alas, the statute books “do not impose penalties on public employees for engaging in a strike.”
As a result, unions do it regardless of the legality. “Washington has seen 78 school districts strike since 1976,” the Columbian newspaper said in 2018. “Injunctions were filed in 25 of those,” but in 12 of them “teachers defied the injunctions.” Unions calculate that getting a hefty contract might outweigh any penalty imposed by a judge. After a 2018 strike, Evergreen teachers nabbed a salary increase of 11.5%.
The state Legislature could change the calculus by adding penalties for public union strikes, but Washington politics is union friendly. This spring lawmakers passed a bill, effective in January, to let striking workers collect unemployment benefits, though the money must be paid back if a court deems the walkout illegal.