K-12 Nontraditional Bargaining in a Time of COVID-19: Building Solidarity Between Movements through Shared Grievances

By focusing on shared community grievances related to the conditions created by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, teachers today can replicate their successes in the 2018–2019 teachers’ strikes using similar labor tactics. The 2018–2019 strikes started with teachers demanding better funding for public education, but then expanded as teachers advocated for increases in public services beyond the classroom and supported concurrent social justice movements like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and movement organizations like Fight for $15. These broader demands highlighted shared grievances with teachers’ communities at the intersection of poverty, race, and labor. By framing their grievances as shared community grievances, teachers changed the semiotic meaning of those grievances to build solidarity with their communities and gain popular support. These strikes were often “wildcat” actions and short in duration, which eased buy-in and increased teacher participation. “Sickouts,” which are wildcat actions unwittingly bolstered by the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, are seemingly tailored to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used by teachers to gain bargaining leverage.