HONOLULU (AP) — Simultaneous strikes by public school teachers on Kaua’i and other Hawaiian Islands along with a strike by University of Hawaii faculty has the potential to “bring the state to its knees.” according to a mainland expert. Simultaneous
HONOLULU (AP) — Simultaneous strikes by public school teachers on Kaua’i and other Hawaiian Islands along with a strike by University of Hawaii faculty has the potential to “bring the state to its knees.” according to a mainland expert.
Simultaneous strikes “could be quite messy,” said Bruce Carlson, a Fordham University professor of policy and education who has studied teacher unions in 15 countries and recently wrote a book on school strikes.
“This is really a serious situation,” he said.
Lehigh University economics professor Thomas Hyclak said he knows of no other state where there is the same kind of concentration of membership in only a few unions.
If the Hawaii State Teachers Association and University of Hawaii Professional Assembly both strike on April 5 as planned, it would be the first time in U.S. history that union workers have shut down an entire state system of public education.
The size of the unions lends weight to their strike threat and gives them bargaining power. But Carlson and Hyclak said the strikes better be short because after a few days, public support usually turns against unions.
“People start to blame the teachers because they are the ones that initiated the strike,” Hyclak said.
