PRESS RELEASE: DFI Releases Nationwide Map of Teacher Union Strikes

Teacher Union Strike Map finds over 600 lost instructional days and dozens of illegal strikes

WASHINGTON—The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) today debuted the Teacher Union Strike Map, an interactive map showing that students in 30 states and D.C. have missed hundreds of school days due to teacher union strikes.

The map catalogs strikes orchestrated by the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) since 2010. More than half of the 128 strikes documented on DFI’s Teacher Union Strike Map occurred in states where elected officials failed to enforce state prohibitions on strikes by public employees.

Laws against teacher strikes are intended to protect students and families from the harm done by school closures. Union bosses know that strikes cause major disruptions on very short notice for families, yet they use “strike funds” to cover legal fines and employee pay.

The Chicago Teachers Union is currently demanding $50 billion from the city of Chicago to fund across-the-board raises, more administrative hiring, and radical projects like converting unused learning facilities into migrant shelters. In light of ever-increasing union mandates like these, DFI has created its Teacher Union Strike Map to educate the public about when, where, and for how long strikes have occurred since 2010.  

The map documents that states have raised teacher pay, hired more teachers to teach fewer students, and ramped up per-pupil spending, but these changes haven’t been enough to appease the unions.  

Strike Map Findings

• Teacher strikes in California have stopped 68 days of student learning since 2010, even though spending and teacher salaries have risen during that time. Now, the average teacher in the state has two fewer students in class and a salary of $95,160.
• The Chicago Teachers Union, an AFT affiliate, has gone on strike four times to demand higher pay and progressive policies in schools. Union-backed policies created an environment in which employees were able to escape accountability for sexual abuse of students.
• A statewide NEA strike in Colorado involved 63,000 public employees in 2018. This was one of six strikes in the state since 2010, though per pupil spending rose $3,841 during that time. 
• More money did not appease teacher unions in Washington, where seventeen strikes have cost students a combined 124 days of learning. Teachers in Washington earn an average of $86,804, and per pupil expenditure has risen by more than $6,388.
• Massachusetts teachers are some of the best paid in the country, with an average salary of $92,307. Still, Massachusetts has experienced 36 days on strike, even while per pupil spending rose by more than $4,000.

“DFI’s Teacher Union Strike Map illustrates how teacher union bosses have used students as pawns in their endless push for more money and power, even in those states that prohibit strikes by public school employees. It’s outrageous how many hundreds of thousands of students have had their learning held hostage by the NEA and AFT and their political allies on school boards over the years,” said DFI President and Co-Founder Bob Eitel.

DFI will update the map to reflect future strikes and additional past strikes as more data becomes available. To explore the Teacher Union Strike Map and learn more, click here.