If the health and safety of students and teachers cannot be guaranteed when schools reopen in the fall, then teachers should strike, says the leader of New Jersey’s second largest teachers’ union.
“In those cases, should a teacher strike, if they believe their life and the lives of their students, aren’t being protected? I believe they should,” AFT New Jersey President Donna Chiera, who oversees 30,000 members, told NJ Advance Media.
Chiera was echoing comments which gained national attention made by her union’s national president, Randi Weingarten this week. Though she says strikes are on the table in New Jersey, Chiera said there’s been no discussion of it yet.
“If authorities don’t protect the safety and health of those we represent and those we serve... nothing is off the table,” Weingarten said at the AFT convention, delivering a state of the union. “Not advocacy or protests, negotiations, grievances or lawsuits, or, if necessary and authorized by a local union, as a last resort, safety strikes.”
New Jersey Education Association President Marie Blistan, who helms the state’s largest teachers’ union with more than 200,000 members, was less explicit about the possibility of a strike, but said if conditions were unsafe that teachers would “stand up and speak up.”
“Health and safety must, must, must be the number one driver in all decisions regarding in-person instruction,” Blistan told NJ Advance Media. “And if those health safety standards cannot be put into place by a certain date on a calendar, because that’s the date that we normally would open schools, then we don’t look at that date.”
Both union presidents questioned whether implementation of the Department of Education’s reopening guidance was possible.
Teachers and union leaders have a laundry list of concerns, which include poor ventilation in school buildings, lack of funding for PPE, nursing personnel shortages, the need for professional development and the unknown quantity of students opting for remote instruction.
“We’re asking school districts to put an awful lot in place in a very short time, and we’re asking them to plan and prepare for something none of us ever saw,” Chiera told NJ Advance Media. “And the money’s just not there to do that.”
Leaders say these issues are underscored by equity issues that plague New Jersey schools and allow richer districts to outperform poorer ones.
Gov. Phil Murphy altered the DOE guidance on reopening last week with a surprise announcement that schools must provide an all-remote option to students in the fall.
But, as the countdown to schools reopening ticks on, some are calling for a total reversal of the state’s in-person instruction mandate. The Essex County Education Association and Paterson Education Association called for a return to all-remote learning last week and lawmakers plan to introduce legislation with the same demand, requiring that school buildings stay shut.
The NJEA has not called for schools to stay closed, but Blistan reiterated the need to prioritize teacher and student safety.
“Remote instruction is not the optimal way,” Blistan told NJ Advance Media. “But if you put life and death in front of us and our kids, we’re going to take life and we’re going to make the best remote instruction that we can.”
Much remains up in the air, as districts cram to submit their reopening plans to their boards of education and the state. For the time being, strikes seem unlikely for New Jersey teachers. Weingarten explained the following day that her comments applied most to states like Florida, Arizona and Texas which have recently become hotbeds for the coronavirus. New Jersey has seen less than 2,000 cases in the last seven days, compared to more than 70,000 in Florida.
With an explosion of teacher strikes nationwide in 2018 and 2019 for pay raises, New Jersey mostly stayed out of the fray, with only a few strikes in recent years. In 2018, teachers striked for one day in Jersey City over health insurance and last year Franklin Lakes teachers striked for one day over salaries and contract negotiations.
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Josh Axelrod may be reached at jaxelrod@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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