First Portland. Next, Salem-Keizer came close. Then Albany. And the rumblings of a possible teacher strike in Beaverton continue.
Whether you feel they’re justified or not, school-shuttering strikes shouldn’t be the norm. Teacher walkouts are illegal in most states, for the obvious reason that most policymakers favor placing hard constraints on the dispute resolution process over shutting down public schools.
Yet they’re becoming increasingly common, even where — in Massachusetts, for example — strikes by teachers are strictly against the law.
No doubt defenders of the unions involved, all of which belong to the largest teachers union in the country, the National Education Association (NEA), would have you believe the strikes are a regrettable but necessary “last resort.”
But it could also be because the NEA is encouraging affiliates to use…
