Teacher strikes win raises, study finds

When it comes to achieving raises and improving working conditions in the classroom, teacher strikes get a passing grade, a recent study found.

Researchers analyzed 772 teacher strikes between 2007 and 2023 and found that strikes increased teachers’ compensation by 8 percent, or $10,000, five years after the labor action, and that student-teacher ratios declined by a half a student three-to-five years later. In the year directly following the strike, teachers received 3 percent raises, or an average of $2,000.

Educators’ benefits also improved by a range from 6 to 9 percent, or $2,700 to $3,400 on average five years following the strike. 

But strikes didn’t just help teachers get raises: they also often resulted in school districts increasing funding for schools, the study found. School districts increased funding by $600 to $1,300 per student three to five years following a strike.

The results indicate that strikes are an effective tool that help teachers achieve their goals, according to the report’s authors, Melissa Arnold Lyon at the University at Albany, Matthew Kraft of Brown University and Matthew Steinberg of the education advocate group Accelerate. One reason for the success of teacher strikes is because teaching positions require licenses and a bachelor's degree, making teachers difficult to replace, especially on a large scale.

“Because education is such a salient industry, even a one-day strike can have a big impact,” Lyon told news outlet Vox. “News media will pick it up, people will pay attention, and parents are going to be inconvenienced. You have these built-in mechanisms for attracting attention that other types of protest do not.”

The vast majority of teachers who went on strike — 89 percent — sought raises and improved benefits, while 59 percent of strikes were motivated by hopes to improve working conditions by lowering class sizes and boosting the number of non-instructional support staff.

Although most teachers received raises following a strike, notably, 23 percent did not see wage gains that were higher than their projected annual wage growth.

The study also found that strikes did not have significant negative impacts on student learning outcomes. Strikes that lasted two weeks or longer saw a small dip in students’ math scores the following year, but most strikes lasted one or two days, with about two-thirds lasting five days or less.

The National Bureau of Economic Research working paper determined that strikes occurred in 610 school districts across the nation, with an average of 12.5 teacher strikes per year. During the 16-year period, strikes occurred in 27 states, with Pennsylvania, Illinois, California and Washington experiencing the highest number of walkouts.

New York did not have any teacher strikes during this period, likely because of the Taylor Law, which imposes harsh penalties for striking. But teacher strikes are illegal in 37 states, and many strikes have still occurred in those states, the study noted. Collective bargaining for teachers is illegal in six states, according to the National Education Association, including North Carolina, South Carolina and, until 2020, Virginia, but those states still saw large-scale teacher strikes in 2018 and 2019. 

The researchers found that school districts that experienced strikes served a disproportionate number of students who were non-white, low-income and English language learners. Striking districts were often large, urban or suburban, more politically conservative and less friendly to unions, the study found.

Notably, strikes occurred most often in states where the country’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, had a lower membership level.

clewis@thechiefleader.com

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