ERIC Number: EJ1243374
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1947-5578
EISSN: N/A
Seven Days that Shook Oakland and the One that Shook Us up
Gordon, Craig
Berkeley Review of Education, v9 n1 2019
On Friday, March 1, 2019, a mass picket line of striking Oakland teachers, other district workers, students, and community members chanted loudly as they surrounded La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, to block school board members from meeting to impose cuts to classified workers (e.g., office workers and custodians) and vital student programs. As a longtime Oakland teacher and their union's designated organizer for one of seven school clusters in the district, author Craig Gordon helped to coordinate this mass picket line. Oakland Education Association (OEA) members traveled from the pickets at their schools on the seventh day of an astonishingly powerful strike to actively support district workers and students, many who actively supported the fight. OEA's strike electrified the city with its unprecedented community support and strong participation by members. Beyond the local significance, it represented the continuation of a militant upsurge among education workers that swept across several red states in 2018 and continued into California in 2019, starting with the Los Angeles educators strike in January. After the strike in Oakland, the insurgency continued with Chicago teachers walking out for 11 days in October. Gordon notes in the article that each successive strike brings new lessons and questions that must be carefully considered. There is much to celebrate and learn from in the solid organizing by members and newly elected union leadership that contributed to the power of the strike. There is also much to learn from considering the criticisms and questions raised by members and supporters during and after the strike. Though the settlement of OEA's strike in 2019 was not a historic victory, the strike tapped into enormous power among union members awakening in them the power to organize and mobilize to a degree many had not imagined possible. The strike registered a historic impact that continues to ripple through the ranks of the education community as members continue to seek new ways to fight old forces. The movement toward a real historic victory is in the making.
Descriptors: Teacher Strikes, Strikes, Community Involvement, School Personnel, Activism, Public Schools
Berkeley Graduate School of Education, University of California, 5648 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94702. Tel: 510-328-3701; e-mail: bre_editor@berkeley.edu; Web site: https://escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California (Oakland)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A