Oklahoma struggle continues as calls for teacher strikes spread across US

Large numbers of Oklahoma teachers are expected to show up at the state capitol today to continue their fight for improved wages and school funding despite the concerted effort by the unions, school district authorities and the media to pressure educators to end their two-week strike.

After failing to prevent the strike, which was initiated on April 2 by rank-and-file teachers using social media, the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) and smaller Oklahoma City-American Federation of Teachers (AFT) have done nothing but try to sabotage it. Last Thursday, OEA President Alicia Priest abruptly announced that the union was calling off the strike. The OEA falsely claimed that teachers had won 95 percent of their demands and that educators could do nothing more than vote for Democrats in November.

On Friday, thousands of teachers, defying the OEA, descended on the state capitol. Over the weekend, they networked with each other to organize sickouts and other forms of protest as schools reopen today.

“OEA ran out in front of our train which was gaining momentum and started acting like they were leading the train and then said they were stopping the train,” Jane, a teacher from a rural Oklahoma District, said during an online meeting Sunday afternoon sponsored by the World Socialist Web Site Teacher Newsletter. “There are a bunch of us that aren’t stopping.

Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/04/16/okla-a16.html