Nation’s largest teachers union locks out staff during strike that disrupted Biden’s speech

The National Education Association is used to supporting nationwide teachers’ strikes, but now it has been caught up in the fallout from a strike by its own workforce for nearly two weeks as part of its collective bargaining process.

The NEA locked out its professional staff, represented by its own union, the National Education Association Staff Organization, starting Monday, and employees protested outside the union’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

The start of the strike, which preceded the lockout of the workforce of the nation’s largest teachers union, disrupted the organization’s national conference and forced President Joe Biden to cancel a speech scheduled there earlier this month.

The intra-union strike comes just months before the election, and teachers unions, often known in Democratic politics for their outsized influence rather than their actual commitment to education, are facing a Republican Party that has capitalized on the education issue in recent years. This year, Republicans have made K-12 education a major part of their party platform, a departure from past platforms.

According to OpenSecrets, the NEA has already donated over $2 million to Democrats and another nearly $8 million to left-wing organizations this cycle, leaving it with just over $37,000 to Republicans and zero dollars to conservative groups.

About 300 employees are currently without pay or benefits as contract negotiations are ongoing. NEA union members have been without a contract since the end of May.

A spokesman for the NEA union told the Washington Examiner which did not strike, calling the lockout at the NEA “illegal…punitive and retaliatory.” Noting that the NEA employees’ union had filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the NEA, bringing the total number of such complaints against the NEA to five since the previous contract ended in May, the spokesman said, “We were locked out by our employer, the National Education Association, which is now the subject of an unfair labor practice complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board.”

Striking NEA union members lined the sidewalks outside the NEA building in the capital yesterday, leaving chalked messages such as “Shame on the NEA,” “He who preaches, does what he does,” “Why are you locking out your employees?” and others.

NEA union members have received letters of support from other unions, including media, education and professional staff organizations.

However, the NEA said its union members walked off the job twice in an “unprotected strike” under NLRB rules, costing NEA members such as teachers, bus drivers and janitors money they would have saved to travel to the four-day representative convention, which was disrupted by the union workers’ strike.

“To add to the unrest, NEASO waited to stop work until many members had dropped off their children at a childcare program offered by NEA at the convention center,” an NEA spokesperson told the Washington Examiner“NEA responded immediately to ensure that every single child in our care was reunited with their parents or guardians. This was completely unacceptable on NEASO’s part.”

“As NEA members and students across the country prepare to return to school, we cannot allow NEASO to continue to disrupt the work of our members through intermittent, unprotected strikes under the NLRA,” the spokesperson added. “To best protect the interests of our members, the association and our employees, we have made the difficult decision to impose a protective lockout of employees represented by NEASO to safeguard the operations of the NEA.”

Tensions rose after the NEA workers’ union launched its second strike of the summer on July 5 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, leading to the cancellation of the conference at which Biden was scheduled to speak. The president refused to break the picket line.

On July 8, the NEA closed its office to striking employees, leading to two days of demonstrations.

“They’ve tried to paint the image of NEASO as disrespectful. They’ve tried to paint the image of NEASO as greedy individuals,” said Robin McLean, president of the NEA Staff Organization, at a rally on July 10. “They look at us like we’re not human. They have bars on the doors so you can’t get in. Who does that?”

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The contract negotiations focus on wages, a 4% annual salary increase and annual pay step increases after a 12-year freeze on benefits.

“NEA cares deeply about our members, the students they serve every day, and all of the dedicated staff who work to advance NEA’s mission,” the NEA spokesperson said. “We have always negotiated in good faith and remain fully committed to and respectful of the collective bargaining process. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that NEASO does not share that commitment.”