The Promise and Limitations of the 2018–2019 Teacher Strikes

• In Event: Teachers' Grassroots Organizing and Charter Schools

Abstract

How successful were teachers’ unions at articulating and winning demands that extended beyond teachers’ interests during the 2018 and 2019 strikes? Based on an analysis of union platforms, and the final agreements unions made with their respective school boards, I find a promising but unrealized movement towards more inclusive and expansive labor action. In addition to making demands for better wages and working conditions for teachers, striking unions also sought to improve conditions for students and support staff. Despite embracing social justice rhetoric, unions often settled for contracts that marginally improved conditions for teachers but not others.

Author

• Johanna S Quinn, Fordham University