Oakland teachers in round 2 of strikesBy ASSOCIATED PRESShome/News/World/At a Glance/Oakland teachers in round 2 of strikesTeachers in Oakland, California, hit the picket lines just as West Virginia teachers went back to class in a kind of coast-to-coast tag-team display of the national teacher unrest that, in many places, has moved beyond pay to politics, tackling issues like charter schools and vouchers. Call it round two of the teacher mobilizations that began last spring as grassroots revolts in conservative-leaning states over salaries and school funding. The most recent actions, including a union-led strike in liberal Los Angeles, have been as much about pushing back on charter schools and other school choice reforms initiatives that have a history of bipartisan support but have long been decried by unions as threats to the traditional public school system. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said the strikes this year were more important than actions that sought pay increases last year because teachers were pushing back on efforts to silence them.

Source: Manila Times February 22, 2019 18:00 UTC