Citizendia

The Florida statewide teachers' strike of 1968 was a strike action in the state of Florida in February and March 1968 by teachers and other education workers belonging to the Florida Education Association (FEA). Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Year 1968 ( MCMLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The Florida Education Association (FEA is a statewide federation of teacher and The cause of the strike was under-funding of the state's educational system at a time when attendance was rising sharply, and low pay and benefits for teachers. The strike lasted from a few days in some school districts to three months in others. School districts are a form of Special-purpose district which serves to operate the local public primary and secondary schools Although a special session of the Florida legislature approved higher taxes to pay for more school funding, FEA members felt the funding hikes were not enough and voted to continue striking. The Florida Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Florida. No additional funding was forthcoming, however, and most local affiliates of the FEA settled their contracts and went back to work by March.

The 1968 Florida strike is considered the first statewide teachers' strike in United States history. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [1]

Contents

Causes of the strike

The primary causes of the strike were an increasing militancy among Florida's teachers, leading to the transformation of the FEA into a labor union, and state underfunding of the Florida education system.

Rise of Florida teacher unionism

The Florida Education Association was established in 1886 as an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA). Year 1886 ( MDCCCLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The National Education Association ( NEA) is the largest professional organization in the United States, representing Public school Teachers and It was an association rather than a labor union, and was opposed to collective bargaining and strikes. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming Collective bargaining is the process whereby workers organize together to meet converse and compromise upon the work environment with their employers

In 1963, Pat Tornillo, a teacher in the Dade County school system, ran for the presidency of the Dade County Classroom Teachers Association (DCCTA). Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Miami-Dade County (often referred to as simply Miami or Dade) is a County located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida He won by calling for greater organizational militancy and the desegregation of teaching staff. [2]

Tornillo's election was a sign of a wave of union-like militancy sweeping the NEA in Florida and nationally. Since its inception, the NEA had rejected collective bargaining and strikes as unprofessional. But after the American Federation of Teachers won collective bargaining rights for teachers in New York City and formed the United Federation of Teachers, many NEA members began to push for the association to act more like a union. Template talkInfobox Union for usage -->The American Federation of Teachers or AFT is an American labor union The City of New York Template talkInfobox Union for usage --> The United Federation of Teachers ( UFT) is the labor union In 1961, about 200 of the NEA's largest urban locals formed the National Council of Urban Education Associations to push the national organization toward collective bargaining. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The caucus was successful: The same year, the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) passed a resolution establishing an "Urban Project," adopting a policy of "professional negotiations" akin to collective bargaining, and requiring the NEA to provide staff, research and financial assistance to locals involved in "professional negotiations. " By 1965, the NEA was providing nearly $885,000 a year to locals in support of "professional negotiations," up from a mere $28,000 in 1961. Year 1965 ( MCMLXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1965 Gregorian calendar. Year 1961 ( MCMLXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. [3] In 1962, pro-unionization forces in the NEA pushed to remove the organization's prohibition against strikes. Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. They were unsuccessful, but did win approval of a "sanctions" policy. "Sanctions" included waging a public relations campaign against the school district, encouraging teachers to not accept teaching positions with the school system, refusing to provide unpaid services (such as tutoring or supervision of clubs), and political action to defeat anti-union politicians. Public relations (PR is the practice of managing the flow of Information between an Organization and its Publics Public relations - often referred "Sanctions" could be employed against any school district which, in the opinion of the local association, had engaged in "unethical or arbitrary" policies or which had refused "sound professional practices. "[4]

Tornillo eagerly embraced professional negotiations and sanctions, and in 1966 he forced the Dade County school system to open negotiations with the DCCTA. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Although the national NEA was obligated to provide assistance, the FEA was not and refused to become involved in Tornillo's professional negotiations. Nevertheless, the DCCTA won a contract. But FEA's reluctance to support the local association led Tornillo and other leaders to lobby the state association to become more militant. [2]

State underfunding of education

Florida, like many American states, strictly regulates the way in which local school districts may fund education. Property taxes are the largest source of income, and may be levied by each local school district under a formula controlled by the state legislature. Property tax, or millage tax, is an Ad valorem tax that an owner pays on the value of the property being taxed However, the state of Florida also provides funds for a variety of educational programs under formulas established by in state law. These programmatic funds are often funded by the state's sales taxes and so-called sin taxes. A sales tax is a Consumption tax charged at the Point of purchase for certain goods and services A Pigovian tax (also spelled Pigouvian tax) is a Tax levied to correct the negative externalities of a market activity

In 1967, Florida's schools were suffering from a large influx of students. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. The post-World War II baby boom had caused school enrollment to rise by more than 50 percent, yet little school building or hiring of new personnel had taken place. As is often the case after a major war the end of World War II brought a Baby boom to many countries notably those in Europe, Asia, North America The underfunding of Florida public schools was acknowledged by most elected leaders, but there seemed little public demand for increased school funding. asgfhhkjhgfhj Deadlock," Orlando Sentinel, March 16, 1992; Thomas, "25 Years After Strike, Schools Still at Issue," St. Petersburg Times, February 21, 1993. </ref>

Strike

Legislative inaction

1966 was an election year. Republican Claude R. Kirk, Jr. ran for governor and won, becoming the first Republican governor since 1877. Claude Roy Kirk Jr (born January 7, 1926) was the thirty-sixth governor of the U A governor is a governing official usually the executive (at least nominally to different degrees also politically and administratively of a non-sovereign level of government Year 1877 ( MDCCCLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Kirk had campaigned heavily on a promise to improve funding for education, but he also made a pledge not to raise taxes.

During the 1967 legislature session, the FEA lobbied the state legislature hard for more funding for public schools. State legislative action had often been the only way for NEA locals to win better pay and working conditions prior to the enactment of the professional negotiations policy, so FEA was no newcomer to politics. FEA asked for a minimum teacher salary of $5,000 a year and a more equitable means of funding schools than property taxes. The Democratic-controlled state legislature approved a higher sales tax to provide for more school funding. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. But Kirk vetoed the budget, and Republican legislators upheld the veto. A veto, Latin for "I forbid" is used to Denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of Legislation. [5]

Fall 1967 spot-strikes

Many Florida teachers were angered by the Gov. Kirk's veto. An August 1967 rally at the Orange Bowl in Orlando drew 30,000 teachers, who demanded state action. The Capital One Bowl is an annual College football Bowl game played in Orlando Florida at the Citrus Bowl, and previously known as the Orlando is a major City in central Florida, USA and is the County seat of Orange County Florida. FEA leaders began talking of holding a statewide strike.

Spot strikes occurred throughout the state after the August rally. Even though public employee strikes are illegal in Florida, teachers in Pinellas and Broward counties struck in September. Pinellas County is a county located in the US state of Florida. [6] Schools in many districts closed, although no school districts were shuttered. Courts ordered the teachers back into the classroom, but hundreds of teachers still stayed out—some for several weeks. [5]

February 1968 statewide strike

The September spot-strikes galvanized public opinion into supporting the changes the teachers demanded. Gov. Kirk called a special session of the legislature in January 1968. In a bipartisan effort, legislators raised taxes to expand state funding for school building and to pay for higher teacher salaries. Gov. Kirk signed the tax and funding package immediately. [5]

But most teachers felt the increases were not enough, and a statewide strike occurred. A special convention of the FEA voted to approve a resolution which condemned the increases as inadequate. [7] In February 1968, FEA president Jane Arnold said the state association would support local teachers if they walked off the job. Thousands did.

Schools closed in roughly two-thirds of Florida's counties. Many individual schools closed in those districts which managed to remain open and functioning. At the height of the strike, 25,712 educators—about 40 percent of the state's teachers—walked out.

The impact of the strike was not uniform, however. Strikes lasted only a few days in some districts, while in others teachers walked picket lines for weeks. In Pinellas County, the local education association stayed out for six weeks, and some small groups of teachers struck for as long as three months. [5]

Gov. Kirk and the legislature stood firm, however, and refused to appropriate more money or raise taxes further.

Local school districts began taking action to break the strike. Arnold and other FEA leaders were threatened with arrest. Tornillo was fined $30,000 and given a two-year jail term (which, after appeal, he was not forced to serve). School districts hired substitute teachers as strikebreakers, and local businesses paid their employees to teach classes. Strike action, often simply called a strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal by Employees to perform work. [5]

Most teachers went back to after only a few weeks, when it became clear that public support for the teachers, weak at the beginning of the strike, had shrunk dramatically. "'We thought they (the public) would be with us,' Arnold said. 'We thought it would unite the community and the teachers. It did a little bit of the opposite. . . . A lot of teachers lost their innocence. They thought the community liked them. '"[5] Local education associations began to negotiate their own settlements, often agreeing to not to challenge school districts for terminating the most militant teachers. [7] By the end of March, nearly all teachers were back at work, and the strike was over.

Assessment of the strike

The 1968 strike did not achieve all the goals FEA had set. While education funding rose significantly, the organization felt that it did not rise enough to meet the needs identified by the teachers. In this regard, the strike is not considered a success.

However, FEA did obtain much higher funding for education and convinced Gov. Kirk to break his no-new-taxes pledge. To many observers, this made the strike a success.

A longer-term effect of the strike was to dramatically improve the outlook for teachers' unions in Florida. FEA members were radicalized by the strike and the statewide federation later won significant court and legislative victories which legalized and promoted the formation of teacher and education unions in the state. Although the 1968 strike would lead to the fragmentation of the FEA in 1974, education unions merged back into one organization in 2000, and as of 2006 unions were recognized in school districts covering 90 percent of the state's education workers. Year 1974 ( MCMLXXIV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the 1974 Gregorian calendar. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. [8] FEA is now one of Florida's largest unions, and the second-largest in the Florida AFL-CIO. Florida AFL-CIO is a statewide federation of labor unions in the state of Florida affiliated with

Notes

  1. ^ "It was the nation's first statewide walkout of public schoolteachers. " "Walkout in Florida," Time, March 1, 1968.
  2. ^ a b Fish, "School Crisis Echoes '67 Deadlock," Orlando Sentinel, March 16, 1992; Mailander, "From Teacher to Union Boss," Miami Herald, September 17, 1996; Park, "The Old School of Power," Miami New Times, September 19, 1996; Rado, "For Florida Schools, 'Mr. T' is King of Blackboard Jungle," St. Petersburg Times, September 24, 1996.
  3. ^ Hopkins, "A Review of Events in Professional Negotiations," Theory Into Practice, April 1965.
  4. ^ "Teachers' Boycott," Time, August 17, 1962.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Farrell, "1968 Strike a Landmark for Schools," Miami Herald, February 2, 1998; Fish, "School Crisis Echoes '67 Deadlock," Orlando Sentinel, March 16, 1992; Thomas, "25 Years After Strike, Schools Still at Issue," St. Petersburg Times, February 21, 1993.
  6. ^ The teachers actually resigned in order to avoid the legal penalties which accompanied a strike.
  7. ^ a b Selden, The Teacher Rebellion, 1985.
  8. ^ Because Florida is a right-to-work state, FEA "represents" 200,000 potential members, or 90 percent of the state's public school educational workforce. Right-to-work laws are Statutes enforced in twenty-two US states mostly in the southern or western U But only about 120,000 of these individuals actually belong to FEA local unions and pay dues. Still, that represents about 60 percent of the state's educational workforce. Berry, "Teacher Unions Want to Join Forces," Orlando Sentinel, June 6, 1998; Talalay and Kleindienst, "Unions Seek Strength in Numbers," Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, May 21, 1999; Kleindienst, "Merged Teacher Union Is Poised for Education Battle," Orlando Sentinel, June 19, 2000.

References

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org