Students in Portland, Oregon, could be entering a third week of canceled classes next week as a teachers strike that began more than a week ago shows little signs of relenting.
The Portland Association of Teachers has kept schools in the city closed as they negotiate with Portland Public Schools over a new collective bargaining contract. But in addition to the standard demands of higher pay and better working conditions, the union has included racial justice professional development training in its list of demands.
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“Portland’s students need educators who have time for planning and preparation,” the union says in its list of demands. “Educators deserve professional development that is led by educators that addresses critical topics like racial equity and implicit bias. Educators deserve salaries and benefits that mean they can afford to live in the neighborhoods where they and their students live.”
The demand for teacher training programs in “racial equity and implicit bias” continues a recent trend by teachers unions to use collective bargaining negotiations to demand progressive policy goals.
Three years ago, the Los Angeles teachers union made national headlines for demanding universal healthcare and other progressive policy demands in exchange for returning to in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic. And last year, teachers in Akron, Ohio, used the threat of a strike to demand new school safety measures.
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Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos ripped the teachers unions in a statement to the Washington Examiner, saying, “Big school unions love closing schools.” The strike, she said, was more evidence of why families need to be
“They’re holding nearly 50,000 kids hostage to their radical demands, and families across Portland are paying the price,” she said. “This is on top of Oregon recently removing basic math and reading competency requirements to graduate high school. It’s hard to argue kids are getting a great education there, and it’s a shame parents in Portland who want better for their kids can’t ‘strike’ themselves and take their kids out of the government schools.”
