West Virginia teachers occupied the Capitol in Charleston in March 2018.
Rebuilding A Fighting Labor Movement
The Lessons of the Teachers’ Revolt Erin Brightwell
I
n what will go down as an historic moment for the American labor movement, the education workers of West Virginia walked out in February 2018, setting in motion a national educators’ revolt. This reflected the pent-up anger against years of cuts in education alongside tax cuts to corporations and the rich, as well as a broad attack by both Republican and Democratic political establishments on public schools, public school teachers, and their unions. The teachers were sick and tired of low pay, disrespect, and the theft of resources from their students. After decades of decline in the power of unions, the teachers and school support workers of West Virginia boldly staged a statewide, illegal strike, shutting down the entire public K-12 education system for eight days and winning a wage increase for themselves and all public sector workers as well as defeating various threatened attacks. The educators’ rebellion that began in West Virginia then led to eruptions in a number of other states, both “red” and “blue”, including Oklahoma, Arizona, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, and California. It has also had an impact on how workers in other industries view going on strike.
While teachers have been at the forefront in the return of the strike, workers from a variety of other sectors, including hotel, tech, and grocery workers, have also taken action. Squeezed between outrageously high housing costs and low wages, workers are not feeling the benefits of the supposedly strong economy. Developments in social struggle such as the #MeToo campaign are also being expressed through workplace action. We are living through a pivotal moment, when working people, both unionized and not, are beginning the process of relearning the lessons of earlier labor battles, and a new generation of activists is emerging and starting to rebuild union power. It must, however, be acknowledged that there are real obstacles that could cut across a broader revitalization of the labor movement at least temporarily. Low unemployment gives workers confidence to take risks, and a recession, which is looming, could reduce strikes, at least in the short term. The Supreme Court’s Janus decision, while it hasn’t resulted in the kind of decimation to public sector unionism that its right-wing sponsors envisioned, has created new difficulties for unions. With a rightwing administration and court, further legal attacks on unions are likely. There have been important victories but also defeats such as
