The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, has locked out its staff without pay after an internal strike ended its annual assembly prematurely last weekend.
Union leaders imposed the “protective lockout” on more than 350 staff members attending the July 4-7 gathering in Philadelphia after they formed a picket line Friday, forcing President Biden to cancel a planned address Sunday. The NEA endorsed the reelection of Mr. Biden, a Democrat, last year.
The abrupt end of the assembly tabled a planned vote on a measure that would have condemned Israeli military operations in Gaza as genocide, despite the president’s support for Israel. A suspension of the rules will allow the assembly’s roughly 6,000 delegates to vote on it and more than 100 other resolutions by mail.
In a statement shared Thursday with The Washington Times, the NEA accused the National Education Association Staff Organization of acting in bad faith by staging two unprotected strikes during the past two weeks, after endorsing nine tentative agreements in contract negotiations dating back to April.
“We have always bargained in good faith and remain fully committed to and respect the collective bargaining process,” the NEA statement said. “Unfortunately, it has become apparent that NEASO does not share that same commitment.”
According to the NEA, the union wants average staff salaries to rise from $124,004 annually to $133,218. The union already covers 100% of employee medical costs and 75% for dependents.
Meanwhile, the NEASO claims the lockdown is in retaliation for five unfair labor practice complaints that staff members have filed with the National Labor Relations Board since June 17.
The staff union has accused NEA leaders of unilaterally cutting holiday overtime pay for the Fourth of July and for a lack of transparency in outsourcing $50 million of employee work to contractors — including an $8,500 receipt from a three-day hairstyling session for NEA President Becky Pringle.
“These are clear union-busting techniques that will not be tolerated,” said NEASO President Robin McLean. “I cannot imagine it lands well that the nation’s largest union is locking out its staff union. NEA’s illegal retaliation efforts against its staff will send ripple effects through the progressive and anti-labor causes.”
According to trade publication Education Week, fewer than 10 out of 115 proposed business items made it to a vote before NEA leaders canceled the assembly last Friday. Those that passed included guidelines for artificial intelligence in the classroom and internet resources supporting LGBTQ students.
On Sunday, Mr. Biden took his campaign elsewhere after deciding he would not cross the picket line.
“President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line,” a spokesperson told EdWeek in an email.
On Thursday, the White House press office referred The Times back to the Biden campaign for all comments on the incident. Union support is considered a critical pillar of Mr. Biden’s base in his tough reelection campaign against Republican Donald Trump.
In an open letter to assembly delegates, Ms. Pringle urged the union’s 3 million members to support the president and Vice President Kamala Harris as “the strongest champions of public education, of educators, of the labor movement in the history of this country.”
Reached for comment, some exhibitors who attended the assembly said the strike ruined NEA plans to showcase its support for the president’s reelection.
“They had planned to get all sorts of resolutions done and rev up the delegates to get out the vote for Biden, but that didn’t happen,” said Gregory Quinlan, president of the conservative Center for Garden State Families in New Jersey. “Now they’re doing everything to their staff that they accuse school districts of doing when teachers go on strike, namely locking them out without pay.”
Judy Bruns, a former national delegate to the NEA annual assembly who taught high school English in west-central Ohio, said she heard staff members murmuring about their working conditions shortly before they walked out last Friday.
“I heard them say the NEA fights for fairness for its members, but is hypocritical to its staff union,” said Ms. Bruns, a pro-life activist and outspoken critic of the union’s pro-choice stance. “Some of the most outspoken leaders and longtime delegates have pushed the union further to the left of President Biden, putting them in an awkward position after the recent debate.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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