David Osborne: Union policies force all teachers to strike at Keystone Oaks - TribLIVE

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Students in the Keystone Oaks School District didn’t attend classes this week, thanks to the strike just initiated by the local teachers’ union — and not every teacher in the district is happy about it.

Given the pandemic’s effect on schools, this is already a difficult time for students, parents, and teachers, without the added stress of a strike. The strike can last until Feb. 9 and could push the school year into the summer.

It’s not an easy situation for parents, some of whom must scramble to find child care. And while students may initially rejoice at a few days off, they could end up doing remedial catch-up work for weeks.

How did this strike happen at seemingly the worst possible time? One reason is the unions involved. The state’s largest teachers’ union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), has been playing hardball over contract terms with the school board for over a year now. The district proposed a five-year contract with salary increases every year, beginning next school year, and a health care credit meant to offset an increase in insurance contributions this year. But union officials refused the offer and initiated the strike. They have not made their specific demands public.

While the community reels from the strike’s impact, it’s important to recognize that strikes are tough on teachers, too, particularly those who disagree with union officials or their tactics. Professional organizers from the PSEA — which takes in up to $74 million in revenue every year — end up deciding teachers’ walk-away point for raises and benefits, while the opinions of individual teachers are disregarded.

Certainly, some teachers are willing to put their faith in union officials, but even teachers who held picket signs this week said they’d “rather be teaching.”

That’s entirely true of the group of Keystone Oaks teachers who reached out to us at Americans for Fair Treatment to ask about their options during a strike. While the vote to authorize a strike on Oct. 21 of last year garnered “overwhelming” approval from the 160 local union members, some teachers opposed the strike, and even those who voted for it may have hoped it ultimately wouldn’t happen. Union officials routinely tell teachers that voting to authorize a strike doesn’t mean they will actually follow through.

Unfortunately, teachers who disagree with union officials — on strikes or with the other tactics unions use — face the difficult position of missing paychecks and marching in the snow for a cause they don’t fully support.

Don’t assume striking employees who march on the picket line are in solidarity. They are facing top-down pressure from union officials. Teachers who choose not to participate in a strike can face disciplinary action or public censuring by their union, according to the union’s internal rules and bylaws. And when teachers choose to cross the picket line, refuse to march, or speak out against a strike, it can be a chargeable offense.

However, the union cannot force nonmembers to toe the union line. That means the best option for teachers who are on the fence about a strike is to simply leave the union. For teachers in tight economic circumstances, this freedom can be a lifeline — especially considering that the union’s national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA), has still not made good on its promises to provide a national teachers’ strike fund.

Strikes are collective action; that is what makes them effective. But they can also devastate communities and employees. For that reason, some teachers want out of the collective — they’d rather make their own decision about their terms of employment. For those teachers, resigning union membership is the best of both worlds: no forced strikes, no forced payments and no loss of union representation. For most public employees, there’s no downside to independence from the union.

For the sake of the teachers at Keystone Oaks, as well as the families in the community, let’s hope the strike is resolved quickly. In the meantime, teachers can take this opportunity to assert their independence from union actions.

David Osborne is a lawyer and CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment.

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