Of all the issues surrounding the Kent Education Association’s decision to strike, the biggest question revolves around the issue of the strike’s legality.
Washington courts and the Attorney General’s office have repeatedly ruled that teacher strikes, like any public-employee strike in Washington State, are illegal.
The KEA disagrees, however.
The most recent examples regarding strike legality include a 2003 injunction written by Judge Linda C. Krese for the Superior Court of the State of Washington for Snohomish County regarding the 2003 Marysville strike.
“Public employee strikes are illegal under the common law of Washington,” she wrote in the “conclusions of law” section of the document. “The (Marysville Education Association) strike violates the prohibition on public-employee strikes and is an illegal strike.”
The injunction then ordered teachers back to work.
In 2006 Attorney General Rob McKenna also offered an opinion on teacher strikes, concurring that public employees, including teachers, do not have the right to strike in Washington State.
McKenna’s opinion cited RCW 41.56.120, which states, “Nothing contained in this chapter shall permit or grant any public employee the right to strike or refuse to perform his official duties.”
The law also states in RCW 41.56.025 “This chapter applies to the bargaining unit of classified employees of school districts…”
McKenna’s opinion, however, also stated that there are no penalties for public employees to strike, although the Legislature could pass them if they so choose.
Generally speaking, no penalties have been levied against teachers who have gone on strike, though some, like Marysville in 2003, have been ordered back to work by the courts.
The KEA disputes the findings that teacher strikes are illegal.
KEA spokesperson Dale Folkerts said Thursday that because there is no specific prohibition of strikes by teachers, as there are for firefighters and police, it is therefore not illegal for teachers to strike.
“There’s no section of law that says teacher strikes are illegal,” he said, adding that civil rulings in cases are different than state law.
Folkerts also said the Legislature has repeatedly declined to pass a specific law making teacher strikes illegal.
When asked about legal options, District Spokesperson Beck Hanks said the district would “look at all options.”
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