McClatchy Students Support Their Teachers in Upcoming Labor Strike

McClatchy students finally had rumors about a possible teacher strike confirmed on Thursday, November 2nd, when the Sacramento City Teachers’ Association announced that they will be striking for higher wages starting November 8th. Despite not knowing too many details yet, a lot of McClatchy students support their teachers in their protest for higher wages.

The teachers in the Sacramento City Unified School District voted to strike until the District will negotiate better wages for existing teachers, as well as fill many of the currently unfilled teaching positions in the district. The teachers’ union argues that this would make Sac City a more desirable district for teachers and students and therefore improve the quality of education.

Many McClatchy students are unclear on all the details, but still support their teachers in this decision.

“If they’re not getting paid right I think that they have the right to protest,” said freshman Janine Milne.

Junior Madie Feickert agreed, saying “I think that they’re doing the right thing. It’s really unfair the way that they’re being paid.”

Students also cited teachers’ hard work as a reason they deserve a raise. “Being a teacher—even being a bad teacher—is a lot of work,” said senior Matteo Wharton.“I mean I’m a bit of a socialist so I’m always going to be on the side of labor, but they’re being treated unfairly and the district isn’t hearing their demands so if they have to protest in order to get the wages that they deserve, I’m all behind that,” said Wharton.

Even students who would be disappointed to be without teachers for a while recognize why they have to strike. “As much as I don’t want my teachers to go on strike, I think that it’s an important change,” said Quincy Johnston, a junior. “I wouldn’t want them to go on strike, but if they went on strike for like a day I wouldn’t be mad. If they were gone for a long time that’d be unfortunate, but I hope that something can be worked out.”

On the day the strike begins, the teachers will have a picket line in front of the school. Most teachers will be in the picket line, and it’s expected that no teachers will cross the picket line to go teach.

There will still be school during the strike, so the district will try to get as many substitutes as possible. However, many substitutes will be striking, as they are part of the same union, so finding enough substitutes for the entire district may be a difficult task. The teachers will not leave behind lesson plans, so students won’t be getting formally educated during the strike. It’s expected that students will be put in the gym or the cafeteria for the day.

Many students are not planning on coming to school the day of the strike. Some students see it as a nice day off, while others are considering protesting with their teachers.

“If I come to school it would be to protest,” said Matteo Wharton. Senior Molly Martin agreed, saying “I’ll support Mrs. Morrison in anything she does.”

Whether or not students can persuade the District to negotiate a better deal with the teachers, their support of the strike is a strong show of solidarity.