Denver Teachers Vote To Strike For The First Time In 25 Years

DENVER, CO – by BY MELANIE ASMAR, ERICA MELTZER, YESENIA ROBLES, Chalkbeat Colorado. Denver teachers voted overwhelmingly to go on strike for the first time in 25 years. Amid a national wave of teacher activism, they’re seeking higher pay and also a fundamental change in how the district compensates educators.

Because of state rules, Monday is the earliest a Denver strike could start.

Ninety-three percent of the teachers and other instructional staff members who voted in a union election Saturday and Tuesday were in favor of a strike, according to the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. That surpassed the two-thirds majority needed for a strike to happen.

Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova has pledged to keep schools open if teachers walk out. The district is actively recruiting substitute teachers to fill in during a strike. It is offering to pay them $200 a day, which is double the normal rate.

Cordova has said she’ll ask state officials to intervene to delay a strike. The Department of Labor and Employment cannot impose an agreement but can provide mediation or hold hearings to try to bring about a resolution.

Labor officials typically only intervene if both sides want help. However, the head of the department can decide that intervention is in the public interest. That would push back the date that teachers could legally strike.

The strike vote in Denver comes after a weeklong strike by teachers in Los Angeles. It also follows a wave of activism and agitation for higher teacher pay that began sweeping the country last year. Here in Colorado, teachers from all over the state staged several rallies at the state Capitol last spring, demanding that lawmakers boost funding for the state’s schools.

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Image: Some Denver teachers are wearing these buttons, provided by the union, at the teacher pay negotiations.