Category Archives: Strikes

phillyBurbs.com: Classes will resume Tuesday

Pennsbury – Monday will be the 21st and final day that striking Pennsbury teachers will walk the picket lines before they are forced by state law to return to the classrooms Tuesday, according to the state Department of Education.

That’s when the district and teachers union will begin the process of nonbinding arbitration – also known as final/best offer – in an effort to resolve the contract dispute.

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KTVU: Deal Reached; SF School Strike Averted

San Francisco Unified School District officials and school worker union representatives reached a tentative agreement on a new two-year contract, averting a strike by approximately 1,200 food service, custodial and secretarial workers.

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Oregon teachers’ strike settled; NCLB was issue

An agreement to settle a bitter teacher strike that began late last month, partly over issues surrounding the federal No Child Left Behind Act, was reached early Wednesday, representatives for both sides said.

Steve Kenney, a spokesman for the Oregon Education Association, and Wayne Kuechler, vice chairman of the Oregon Trail School Board, confirmed the settlement to The Associated Press but would not discuss the terms pending ratification votes Wednesday evening.

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CBC Montreal: More teacher strike days coming

Teachers at the English Montreal School Board have voted to take three more strike days before the end of the year.

Teachers voted 67 per cent in favour of the move Monday night.

They also voted unanimously to reject the government’s latest contract offer.

“I take that as a sign that we’re very determined to get a settlement from the government, and very unhappy with the state of negotiations as they are right now,” says Ruth Rosenfield, president of the Montreal Teachers’ Association.

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CBS5.com: San Francisco schools expect strike

With a looming strike expected to begin Thursday, San Francisco Unified School District officials indicated today that advanced plans have been made but declined to go into much detail.

Union officials are planning a news conference this evening and are likely to announce that they are giving 24 hours notice of a strike.

Service Employees International Union Local 790, which represents about 1,200 food service, custodial and secretarial workers, has been negotiating with the district since October 2004 for a raise and more money for dependents’ health insurance. The union’s members have been working under expired contracts for months.

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Teachers’ strike enters third week

A teachers’ strike in Bucks County heads into its third week with no settlement in sight.

The two sides in the Pennsbury teachers’ strike met Wednesday night thanks to a mediator, but the talks broke off after just two hours.

The school board informed union members that it would cost the district more than $1 million if the strike lasts the full three weeks allowed by law.

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Oregon: Teachers’ strike second longest in state history

It’s opening weekend for “Once Upon a Mattress,” Sandy High School’s fall musical. But the building is empty, quiet. The cast has the script memorized, but the set is not painted and the costumes are only half-complete.

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Inside Higher Ed: Digging in at NYU

New York University graduate students, dozens at a time, took turns manning the picket lines for the second day Thursday. With no official contact between the graduate student union and the university, which ended recognition of the union this summer, strikers are thinking about the long haul.

Also see: NYU Grad/Undergrad Solidarity Committee

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The New York Times: Graduate teaching assistants go on strike against NYU

After a last-ditch effort by a group of professors on Tuesday failed to convince officials at New York University to re-open labor negotiations with the union representing graduate teaching assistants, the union went on strike yesterday.

Inside Higher Ed: NYU graduate assistants on strike

Hundreds of New York University graduate assistants forsook the classroom for the picket line Tuesday, after a last ditch effort Monday by a delegation of faculty members failed to persuade NYU’s president to recognize the graduate student union.

Also see:
GSCO/Local 2110 UAW at NYU: STRIKE CENTER

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College lecturers vote to strike

A further education college lecturers’ union is to call out some 26,600 members on strike on 16 November. Natfhe said that, in a ballot over a 2.8% pay offer, 71% of respondents backed the proposed strike. The turnout was 36%, with 6,820 votes for a strike and 2,740 against. The action affects 226 of the 283 colleges in England.

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Shrugging off the government’s Pyrrhic victory in the BC teachers strike

On Monday, October 17, 20 000 teachers, union members and other supporters shut down the provincial capital of Victoria and marched on the legislature. Within 48 hours, it was clear that the teachers of British Columbia and their union, the BCTF, were on the verge of becoming victims of an institutionally driven betrayal of enormous proportions in terms of the size of the opportunity that was being squandered

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Teachers may join S.F. food service strike

Some members of San Francisco’s teachers union may join a strike by food service, custodial and secretarial workers at San Francisco Unified School District that could hit the district in little more than a week.

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Striking teachers, board to meet

Negotiating teams for the Pennsbury School District’s striking teachers’ union and its school board will meet tomorrow. The bargaining session was called by the state mediator working with the two sides, who are split on teacher pay and benefits. The time and place have not been revealed. The 800 teachers and their 11,000 students have not had class for nearly two weeks.

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The New York Times: NYU grad students say they’ll strike to unionize
New York University’s union of graduate students has announced plans to strike next week. The university, which previously recognized the union, announced that it would no longer do so and union officials have said that they need a strike to get the university to return to collective bargaining. University officials have said that unionization was not good for the university, while union officials say that only collective bargaining can adequately protect the interests of teaching assistants.

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Oregon hit by first strike of teachers since 1999

After 18 months of a bitter contract dispute, teachers in the sprawling Oregon Trail School District went on strike Tuesday, the first in the state to do so since 1999.

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The Globe and Mail: CUPE walks out in solidarity with teachers
Forty thousand unionized workers will walk away from their jobs en masse today in support of B.C.’s teachers, throwing services offered by Lower Mainland cities, universities and some colleges into disarray.

The Powell River Peak: Unions walk out to support striking teachers
Striking teachers are enjoying almost unanimous support in Powell River and across much of BC. Union members, students and teachers were all on picket lines on Monday, October 17, as much of Powell River slowed or came to a standstill.
CUPE workers plan solidarity walkout
By JONATHAN WOODWARD
Friday, October 21, 2005 Page S1

VANCOUVER — Forty thousand unionized workers will walk away from their jobs en masse today in support of B.C.’s teachers, throwing services offered by Lower Mainland cities, universities and some colleges into disarray.

Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees will cancel administrative work in universities and some colleges, shut down libraries and garbage pickup in most cities and slow regular municipal services to a crawl.

But unlike previous walkouts in Victoria, the Kootenays and the Okanagan, unions under the B.C. Federation of Labour won’t be off the job, said federation president Jim Sinclair.

Transit workers, provincial government employees and other workers in the federation will stay at work while the province’s 38,000 teachers consider mediator Vince Ready’s recommendations to end the illegal strike.

Police, fire department and safety staff will stay at their desks, CUPE officials said. A skeleton crew of workers will stay at municipal front desks in some cities, and in others, non-union managers will perform their staff’s duties.

Rallies for CUPE members will be held at the PNE Coliseum in Vancouver today at 10 a.m., and at the Stetson Bowl in Surrey at 1 p.m.

The Health Employees Union, a CUPE affiliate, will not send health workers off the job.

Without the go-ahead from the federation, groups such as the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) — which staged massive walkouts in Victoria on Monday and the Kootenays yesterday — will not disrupt services, Mr. Sinclair said.

“This is a very fluid time in the province, and I think it’s incumbent on the government to find a solution and move forward, and it’s not over yet,” Mr. Sinclair said.

Striking Telus workers, who disrupted transit services in the recent walkouts, have given assurances that they won’t disrupt Lower Mainland bus or train services, said Andy Ross, whose union represents TransLink workers.

In Vancouver, city hall staff, parking enforcement officers, and community centre staff will be off the job, shutting down community centres and pools. Minor pickets are planned for outside staff. Workers in child care and health care, and those involved in public safety, will stay on the job. Firefighters, police and garbage pickup will be unaffected.

Workers at Richmond’s pools and community centres, and staff at city hall, will be off the job, while RCMP, fire department and some municipal staff will keep their departments operational. The union won’t disrupt day care or out-of-school programs, weddings and other one-time events will go ahead, and garbage service will be unaffected because the service is contracted out.

Support workers at Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia will be off the job and protesting at entrances to both universities. Teaching assistants at UBC won’t mark papers or teach labs or discussion groups. Some teaching staff have said they will cancel classes, but campus security staff will remain on patrol.

Support staff at CUPE-unionized Langara College and Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design will be off the job, while support workers under the aegis of the BCGEU such as those at BCIT, Douglas College, and Kwantlen University College will be unaffected by the walkout. Classes are largely expected to continue as normal.

Delta, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and other municipalities expect all municipal services to be disrupted, including bylaw offices, arenas and recreation centres, but not emergency services. Union leaders are encouraging their members to skip work and attend rallies. A theatre performance at the Surrey Art Centre will go ahead as scheduled.

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