PAGE 2 |
July 20, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
NORTHWEST
LABOR
PRESS
(International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X)
Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la-
bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the
first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor
Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo-
ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore-
gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in
Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Office location:
4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213
Phone: (503) 288-3311
Web address:
http://nwlaborpress.org
Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig
Associate editor: Don McIntosh
Office manager: Cheri Rice
Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based
inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M.
SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions are
$15 a year for union members, $23 a year for
all others. Pay by credit card online at
nwlaborpress.org/subscribe, or send a check
to our mailing address (above) along with
your name, address and union affiliation, if
any. Group rates of $10.56 a year per person
are available for 25 or more subscriptions; call
503-288-3311 for details.
CORRECTIONS: See an error? Please let us
know at editor@nwlaborpress.org or by
phone at 503-288-3311.
PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID
AT PORTLAND, OREGON.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS: If you move, let us
know at nwlaborpress.org/subscriber-services
or by mail at our mailing address (above). Be
sure to provide your old and new addresses
and the name/number of your local union.
Please allow three weeks for the change to
take effect.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
P.O. BOX 13150
PORTLAND, OR 97213-0150
SHOP LOCAL.
AND BUY UNION
AND AMERICAN-
MADE.
Low Prices!
Coats, etc.
Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6
ANALYSIS
Lessons of the West Virginia teachers strike
Nicole McCormick, 33, is a
mother of four, an elementary
school music teacher, and one of
the leaders of a 11-day West Vir-
ginia strike that shut down
schools state-wide for nine days.
West Virginia teachers have no
state law recognizing collective
bargaining rights, and yet, bar-
gaining with their feet, they
wrangled a 5 percent raise out of
a hostile Republican legislature,
and sparked a teacher strike
wave that spread to at least three
other states. Since the strike, Mc-
Cormick and other West Virginia
teachers have traveled as far as
Mexico, Italy, and the United
Kingdom to tell other union
workers about what they experi-
enced. Monday evening, July 23,
McCormick will speak at the
teachers union headquarters in
Portland. Labor Press reporter
Don McIntosh spoke with her by
phone July 12.
It’s against the law in West
Virginia for public employees
to strike, but you struck any-
way. How were you able to do
THERE IS POWER IN A UNION West Virginia music teacher Nicole Mc-
Cormick will be in Portland July 23 to talk about the dramatic and successful
11-day statewide teachers strike.
that? Well, we had clear open
communication with each other.
We were very clear what the is-
sues were. We had an escalation
campaign. We started out with
informational pickets, like on the
weekends, we would hold signs
and hand out information to
folks, and invite the media so we
could tell the local news and the
newspaper what the problem
was. We escalated things, and it
came to the point where some of
the southern counties decided to
go ahead and walk.
We knew we wanted to walk.
Our leadership actually stepped
up and said if these demands are
not met by such and such a date
our teachers and service profes-
sionals will be out.
Then they took the strike vote,
and everybody was included in
that vote, whether they were
members or not. We all needed
to be able to walk together. We
took a vote. It was secret ballot.
We found out that we had an
overwhelming amount of people
that were willing to walk. It was
announced at a big rally with
10,000 people.
It didn’t matter if it was illegal,
because what were they going to
do? We had 727 teacher vacan-
cies that were being filled by un-
certified people or not at all. And
we never have enough subs. So
what are they going to do?
Our state attorney general
tried to get county school boards
to file lawsuits saying that we
needed to be ordered back to
Turn to Page 5