A strike by staff at the nation’s largest teachers union prompted President Biden to cancel a speech Sunday in Philadelphia, where he was scheduled to address thousands of delegates at the union’s annual convention.
The National Education Association (NEA) staff union began its strike Friday, citing management’s revocation of overtime pay for July 4 and its refusal to provide information on $50 million in outsourced work that could have been done by NEA staff earlier. The strike paralyzed the final three days of the four-day convention, as delegates refused to cross a picket line.
Mr. Biden’s campaign said he wouldn’t do it either. “President Biden is a strong supporter of labor unions and will not cross a picket line,” his campaign said in a statement, adding that the president still planned to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend.
According to a recent government report, the National Education Association has about 2.5 million members nationwide, not including retirees. The union says it represents more than 350 employees at its headquarters in Washington.
The staff union, the National Education Association Staff Organization, voted to strike in April, and his three-year contract expired at the end of May. He called a one-day walkout in June. “The NEA has abandoned its union values through its actions at the bargaining table,” staff union President Robin McLean said in a statement. “The NEA would rather cancel a multimillion-dollar contract than comply with labor law.”
The NEA said in a statement that it remains “fully committed to a fair bargaining process” and accused the union of spreading “false information” that “not only distorts the facts but also undermines the integrity of our ongoing efforts to honor a fair bargaining process.”
The union added that the association offers generous benefits and competitive wages, saying its current proposal would raise the average salary for staff union members to about $133,000, up from about $124,000. The staff union said pay increases have been years overdue and most members would see an increase of less than 2% per year under the proposal.
Union worker strikes are not uncommon. United Food and Commercial Workers union workers staged a one-day strike in May. Workers at a large Service Employees International Union local in California held a two-week strike in 2022.
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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