# 2018–2019 education workers' strikes in the United States

vteLabor disputes by sector :
vteAgricultural strikes
1800s
Thibodaux sugar 1887
Cotton pickers 1891
1900s–1920s
Oxnard 1903
Seattle fishermen 1912
Grabow lumber 1912
Wheatland hops 1913
northern Minnesota lumber 1916–1917
Hanapepe sugar 1924
Imperial cantaloupe 1928
1930s
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1940s–present
Hawaiian sugar 1946
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Delano grape (1965–1970)
Salad Bowl 1970
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Frito-Lay 2021
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1870s – 1900s
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Coal Creek War
Bituminous coal strike 1894
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Illinois coal wars 1898–1900 (Battle of Virden, Pana riot, Carterville Mine Riot)
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1910s
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Paint Creek mine war 1912
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Hartford coal mine riot 1914
1920s – 1930s
West Virginia coal wars 1912–21 (Battle of Matewan, Battle of Blair Mountain)
Alabama miners' strike 1920
UMW General Coal Strike 1922 (Herrin massacre)
Indiana bituminous strike 1927
Colorado Coal Strike 1927–28 (Columbine Mine massacre)
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vteGeneral strikes
1800s
Philadelphia 1835
Catalan 1855
St. Louis
Scranton 1877
First May Day (Haymarket Affair) 1886
New Orleans 1892
1900s
Sweden 1909
Philadelphia 1910
Vancouver 1918
Seattle
Winnipeg 1919
Germany 1920
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Minneapolis 1934
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Spain 1988
Nepal 1992
2000s
Guinea 2007
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French Caribbean 2009
Spain 2010
European 2012
India 2016
Brazil
Catalan 2017
Catalan 2019
vteUS manufacturing strikes
1800s–1920s
Cigars 1877
El Paso smelters 1913
Studebaker 1913
Standard Oil 1915
Boston cigars 1919
1930s–1970s
Tampa cigars 1931
Auto-Lite 1934
Kohler 1934
Flint sit-down 1936
Akron rubber 1936
Remington 1936
Ford 1937
Chrysler Auto 1939
General Motors 1939
General Motors 1945
Boeing 1948
Kohler 1954
International Harvester 1979
1980s–2000s
Todd Shipyards 1983
International Paper 1987-1988
John Deere 1986–1987
General Motors 2007
Boeing 2008
2010s–2020s
Oil refineries 2015
Kohler 2015
Jim Beam 2016
Bath shipbuilders 2020
St. Paul Park refinery 2021
Volvo Trucks 2021
Frito-Lay 2021
Nabisco 2021
Heaven Hill 2021
Kellogg's 2021
John Deere 2021
United Auto Workers 2023
vteMetal mining strikes
1800s
Upper Peninsula 1865
Coeur d'Alene 1892
Cripple Creek 1894
Leadville 1896–97
Coeur d'Alene 1899
1900s–1920s
Colorado Labor Wars (Idaho Springs) 1903–04
Cananea 1906
Goldfield 1906–07
Copper Country 1913–14
Bisbee 1917
Anaconda Road 1920
1930s–1970s
Empire Zinc 1950
Murdochville 1957
Inco 1978–79
1980s–present
Vale Inco 2009–10
vteTransport strikes
1800s
Great Railroad Strike 1877
Camp Dump 1882
Great Southwest 1886
Burlington 1888
Buffalo switchmen 1892
New Orleans waterfront 1892
Pullman Strike 1894
1900s–1920s
Chicago teamsters 1905
New Orleans Levee 1907
Illinois Central shopmen 1911
West Coast waterfront 1916
NYC Harbor Strike 1919
Seattle waterfront 1919
Portland waterfront 1922
Railway shopmen 1922
1930s–1970s
West Coast waterfront 1934
Minneapolis teamsters 1934
NYC teamsters truckers 1938
Vancouver waterfront 1935
Gulf Coast maritime 1936
NYC tugboat 1946
USPS 1970
Longshoremen 1971
1980s–2000s
Patco (air traffic controllers) 1981
SEPTA Regional Rail 1983
Pan Am 1985
UPS 1997
Montreal longshoremen 2020
vteSanitation strikes
Memphis 1968
St. Petersburg 1968
Charleston 1969
Atlanta 1977
Atlanta 2018
vteService strikes in the United States
1800s–1920s
Newsboys 1899
NYC waiters 1912
Actors 1919
Boston police 1919
1930s–1970s
Seattle Post 1936
Fleischer Studios 1937
NYC retail 1937
Disney animators 1941
Musicians 1942
Hollywood 1945
Writers Guild 1960
Cleveland convention 1963
St. John's 1966
Memphis sanitation 1968
St. Petersburg sanitation 1968
NYC teachers 1968
Baltimore municipal (police) 1974
Atlanta sanitation 1977
1980s–2000s
Writers Guild 1981
Writers Guild 1988
SF newspaper 1994
Detroit newspaper 1995
Verizon 2000
Broadway musicians 2003
CA supermarkets 2003
UM Janitors 2006
Umpires 2006
Writers Guild 2007
Stagehands 2007
CBS News 2007
2010s
Government (Wisconsin) 2011
Fight for $15 2012–2019
Tacoma nurses 2014
Verizon 2016
Video games 2016
Teachers (AZ, CO, Los Angeles, NC, OK, WV) 2018–2019
Hotels 2018
Stop & Shop 2019
2020s
UC Santa Cruz 2020
University of California 2022
Medieval Times 2023
Writers Guild 2023
SAG-AFTRA 2023
Video games 2024
vteSteel strikes in the US
1800s–1920s
Homestead 1892
U.S. Steel recognition 1901
Pressed Steel Car 1909
Great Steel 1919
1930s–1970s
Little Steel (Memorial Day massacre) 1937
Nationwide 1946
Nationwide 1952
Nationwide 1959
1980s–2020s
USX 1986
Allegheny Technologies 2021
vteNorth American transit strikesStreetcar strikes
St. Louis 1900
Indianapolis 1892
Los Angeles 1903
San Francisco 1907
Pensacola 1908
Columbus 1910
Philadelphia 1910
Indianapolis 1913
St. John 1914
Atlanta 1916
Portland, ME 1916
Bloomington, IL 1917
Twin Cities 1917
Los Angeles 1919
New Orleans 1920
Denver 1920
New Orleans 1929
1930s–1970s
Century Airlines 1932
Philadelphia 1944
New York City 1949
Atlanta 1950
New York City 1966
1980s–2020s
Greyhound 1983
New York City 2005
Toronto 2006
Toronto 2008
Lyft and Uber 2019
vteTextile strikes in United States
1800s
Mill Women 1834
Paterson 1835
Mill Women 1836
New England shoe 1860
North Adams shoe 1870
1900s–1920s
Skowhegan 1907
New York shirtwaist 1909
Chicago garment 1910
Lawrence 1912
Little Falls 1912–1913
Hopedale 1913
Paterson silk 1913
Ipswich Mills 1913
Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills 1914–1915
New England 1922
Passaic 1926
New Bedford 1928
Loray Mill 1929
1930s–1970s
Los Angeles garment 1933
National 1934
Lewiston-Auburn shoe 1937
Montreal Cotton 1946
1980s–2000s
NYC Chinatown 1982 :
The 2018–2019 education workers' strikes in the United States began on February 22, 2018, after local activists compelled the West Virginia state leadership of the West Virginia branches of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association into holding a strike vote. The strike—which ended when teachers returned to their classrooms on March 7—inspired similar, statewide strikes in Oklahoma and Arizona. It also inspired smaller-scale protests by school staff in Kentucky, North Carolina, Colorado, and led to a school bus driver strike in Georgia. Additionally, around this time, adjunct professors at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia protested over pay.
The strikes continued in the fall of 2018 when there was a collective bargaining shortcoming between the United Teachers Los Angeles union and the Los Angeles Unified School District in September 2018, prompting a strike that began in January 2019. This also resulted in a teachers' walkout in Virginia, a long-time right-to-work state, as well as in Denver and Oakland, California. The national wave of strikes has been referred to as Red for Ed or #RedForEd, with striking workers often wearing red shirts to show solidarity. Reasons given for the choice of the color red range from the fact that many of the initial strikes were in red (Republican-controlled) states to the idea that public school budgets are in the red.
Motivations for the strikes included desire for increased wages for teachers and support staff, larger school budgets, smaller classrooms, and other issues. The strikes varied in their levels of success, with the West Virginia strike considered mostly successful, where Oklahoman teachers received relatively few concessions.

## Origins and overview

Discussions of a strike in West Virginia began in early 2018. In the first week of February, teachers staged "walk-ins" at schools and some protested at the West Virginia Capitol. The strike proved successful, and inspired those in other states to strike as well.
In early April, Oklahoma became the second state to strike, making it the first time a teacher's strike was held in the state since 1990. The strike lasted for nearly 10 days, from April 2–12, after teacher salaries were increased by $6,000 and support staff salaries were increased by $1,250.
In late April, teachers in Arizona and in Colorado went on strike. The Colorado strike began on April 27 and ended on May 12, while the Arizona Strike lasted from April 26 to May 3.
In May 2018, it was reported that teachers in North Carolina could be next to strike, making it the fifth state to have a teachers' strike. This was due to the state being ranked 41st in the nation in salaries for teachers, and per pupil spending at negative 12 percent. Further, it was reported that teachers in North Carolina have seen a five percent decrease in salaries since 2008. Furthermore, teachers hired after January 1, 2021, will not receive health benefits, along with teachers having to pay $10,000 per year in out of pocket health insurance.
Because of a majority of the strikes being in predominantly Republican Party-controlled, conservative states, the strikes have been referred to as the "Red State Revolt". This has prompted several Republican politicians to concede to their demands, in the run-up to the 2018 mid-term elections.

### Pension costs

One of the largest reasons for decreasing teacher pay and less funding for schools is the large amount of money diverted from current budgets to pay educators' unfunded pension liabilities. $^{:1}$ For example: "In Colorado, school district payments to the public pension fund have roughly doubled since 2006, from about 10 percent of payroll to 20 percent."
A 2016 study found that only 30% of the money that school districts pay towards the retirement benefits of an educator actually go toward that educator's pension, with 70% being used to pay off unfunded debt in that pension system. $^{:1}$

### Demands

Universally, demands included raising pay. In Oklahoma and West Virginia, respectively sources of oil and coal, demands included financing the increased spending on education through taxation focused on these industries.
Original reason for the strike included the state's plan to force teachers to use fitbit to be allowed to keep subscribing to the same healthplan or face a $500 annual fine.

## Strikes
### Summary of strikes and protests by location

| State | Location | Date started | Status of protests | Outcome |
| Arizona | Statewide | April 26, 2018 | Ended May 3, 2018 | Statewide strike 20% salary raise for teachers by 2020 9% raise for teachers in 2018–19 school year subsequent 5% raises for the next two years Increased support staff salaries |
| California | Los Angeles | January 14, 2019 | Ended January 22, 2019 | District-wide teachers strike 6% salary increase Reduction in class sizes Increase in support staff |
| California | Oakland | February 21, 2019 | Ended February 28, 2019 | District-wide teachers strike 11% salary increase over four years Reduction in class sizes Delay in school closures for 5 months |
| California | Sacramento | April 11, 2019 | One-day strike | |
| California | Union City | May 20, 2019 | Ended June 7, 2019 | |
| Colorado | Statewide | April 27, 2018 | Ended May 12, 2018 | Teachers strike in numerous counties 2% salary increase Education budget restored to pre-Recession levels |
| Colorado | Denver | February 11, 2019 | Ended February 14, 2019 | District-wide teachers strike 7 to 11% salary increase Pay scale changes that increase emphasis on teacher training and experience |
| Georgia | DeKalb County | April 19, 2018 | Ended April 23, 2018 | Bus drivers' strike in DeKalb County Seven bus drivers fired Ongoing collective bargaining between school district and bus drivers |
| Kentucky | Statewide | April 2, 2018 | | Teacher walkout in numerous counties Protests at Kentucky State Capitol |
| North Carolina | Statewide | May 16, 2018 | One-day strike | Teacher walkout in numerous counties Protests at North Carolina State Capitol |
| North Carolina | Statewide | May 1, 2019 | One-day strike | Over half of school districts forced to close |
| Oklahoma | Statewide | April 2, 2018 | Ended April 12, 2018 | Statewide teachers strike $6,000 salary raise for teachers $1,250 salary raise for support staff Increased public school funding through tobacco tax |
| South Carolina | Statewide | May 1, 2019 | One-day strike | Over 10,000 at state capitol Several school districts forced to close |
| Tennessee | Nashville | May 3, 2019 | Negotiations ongoing. Metro Nashville Public Schools has requested increased funding. | "Sickout" by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools teachers. |
| Virginia | Virginia Commonwealth University | February 28, 2018 | Ended May 12, 2018 | VCU School of the Arts adjunct faculty protest 25% wage increase for adjunct faculty |
| Virginia | Statewide | January 28, 2019 | One-day strike | Teacher walkout in numerous counties Protests at Virginia State Capitol 5% pay raise for teachers |
| West Virginia | Statewide | February 22, 2018 | Ended March 7, 2018 | Statewide strike 5% pay raise for teachers |