Recent union-supported teachers' walkouts and strikes across several U.S. states and cities highlighted union-led and grassroots efforts to amplify teachers' voices. Yet, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, "Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31," provides a strength test for teachers' unions and members engaging in social justice/equity work…

With a new Governor, State Superintendent, and Legislators in Sacramento and a diminished federal role in education, there is an opportunity for California's leaders to take stock of recent educational reforms and make necessary improvements. Several high-profile reforms over the past few years, including the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF)…

Ever wonder why union members' salary and benefits, workload agreements, and other aspects of their collective bargaining agreements, or "contracts," often remain unchanged and enforced during the all-too-common periods when public employees labor without a contract? In New York, the answer boils down to an understanding of the Public…

Key findings from the current survey: (1) Most Californians say charter schools are an important option for parents in low-income areas--but many express concern that charters divert funding from traditional public schools; (2) More than half of residents across regions say teacher salaries in their community are too low; and (3) Majorities…

Teachers' unions find themselves on the defensive in states across the country, as governors and lawmakers press forward with proposals to target job protections and benefits that elected officials contend the public can no longer afford academically or financially. Many of those efforts are being driven by newly elected Republicans, who have…

A strike last week by some 29,000 teachers in Chicago pushed long-simmering tensions over deeply divisive school improvement ideas--including changes in teacher evaluation and the takeover or closure of underperforming schools--into the national spotlight. A framework for a tentative agreement emerged last Friday, and the union's house of…

Reviews the concept of the "right" to strike, state laws allowing strikes, and court decisions establishing standards in this area. (IRT)

Outlines five approaches to the use of court injunctions to end public employee work stoppages. The current use of injunctions seriously impedes free and open collective bargaining. (Author/IRT)

Several methodological flaws were found in a Public Service Research Council study relating increases in public employee strikes with the adoption of bargaining statutes. A replication, using teachers, suggests some nonstatutory factors that may strongly affect the incidence of teacher strikes. (Author/IRT)

The "irreparable harm" standard is an old principle of equity designed to limit court use of injunctions to situations in which the absence of court intervention would produce irreparable injury to legally protected interests. This study describes and analyzes the courts' use of the irreparable harm standard in anti-strike injunction…

Discusses judicial interpretations of Pennsylvania's Public Employee Relations Act which created the right of public school teachers to strike. (JF)

Discusses the experience of the Philadelphia School Board with the Public Employee Relations Act which permits public school teacher strikes. (JF)

One of the drafters of the Public Employee Relations Act discusses Pennsylvania's experience with the new right to strike clause in the Act. (EA)