Typically, teacher strikes focus on wages and working conditions but increasingly, they are addressing issues that affect students, including equity, and social justice. For example, teachers in Seattle fought for a new contract that included more resources and support for special education students. And in Columbus, teachers walked out for climate-controlled classrooms—because it’s impossible to learn when it’s 95 degrees and suffocating inside. These are big-picture demands that reflect a growing trend toward what is called “bargaining for the common good.”
It’s important to know that the vast majority of public school teacher strikes in the US are legal. Even in states where it’s illegal to strike, if a large number of teachers walk out at the same time, they can put enough pressure on state leaders to make changes.
Research suggests that teachers who go on strike are overwhelmingly concerned about compensation, and that their demands for raises tend to be met. They also want to address working conditions, like class sizes and the number of support staff, and the overall amount of money in the district budget for things like technology and curriculum.
Teachers also tend to be more likely to strike in districts where per-student funding is lower and they serve a higher percentage of minority students from low-income backgrounds or are learning English as a second language. But, research also finds that the academic effects of teacher strikes vary by how long they last. A few studies have found that long strikes result in small declines in math test scores the year after a strike, but the vast majority of teacher strikes are short—with two-thirds ending within five days.