Teachers strike to change the conditions in their schools. Often, they are protesting issues like high classroom sizes, no social workers, and low pay. Those are all real concerns that need to be taken seriously by the government.
However, when a teacher strikes it can be disruptive for students and the community at large. It takes a lot of time and effort for a teacher to build trust with students, parents, and colleagues. Strikes can erode that trust, and cause students to lose a significant amount of learning in the process.
Fortunately, teachers are not taking this action lightly. In the most recent example of nationwide protests, many teachers have made it clear that they aren’t striking for the money, but rather because they believe their students aren’t getting what they need from the public system.
As a result, it’s important for school leaders to remain neutral and let district negotiators handle the negotiations. It’s also important to communicate clearly with all stakeholders and make it abundantly clear that the negotiated agreements will be faithfully implemented.
It’s also worth noting that teacher strikes do have tangible economic impacts. A recent NBER working paper by Leslie Finger and Hyesang Noh finds that when teachers strike, they end up with pay increases in the years following the strike, which average about $11,000 per year (inflation-adjusted). Importantly, the money used to fund these salary increases comes primarily from new state spending on education, not from local tax hikes or redistribution of existing funding.