Despite a campaign to strip Pennsylvania teachers of their rights, strike actions in two Pittsburgh-area school districts have been authorized by their respective unions.
On Oct. 22, teachers in the Kiski Area School District in Westmoreland County voted to strike if no progress is made in ongoing contract negotiations with the district. South Butler County School District teachers walked off the job the next day when the union and district officials reached an impasse.
Pennsylvania law requires that any strike must end in time for 180 school days to be held before June 15, which greatly hamstrings union leverage in negotiations. The state legislature has sought to add Pennsylvania to the growing list of states in which teachers are forbidden to exercise their right to strike. The private group StopTeacherStrikes Inc. has been publishing teachers’ financial information to promote public resentment of educators’ compensation.
“People think it’s easy [to go on strike], but it’s not,” said Butch Santicola, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. “It weighs on you professionally, personally.”
