A strike for basic dignity

NEA Today, Feb 1999

You may have been talking turkey last Thanksgiving, but the stateappointed administrators who run New Jersey's largest school district were not.

They refused to budge on the Jersey City Education Association's proposals for a fair, career-building teacher evaluation procedure. Feelings about the old evaluation process were raw. "Teachers were being evaluated by as many as three supervisors in a day, up to 20 times a year by different people, and even on the first day of school!" says JCEA President Tom Favia.

Jersey City educators had other burning concerns, including the lack of professional development opportunities. But punitive evaluating was the issue that forced the 3,500 educators on strike for week.

And what a motivator indignity can be. JCEA's members-teachers, teachers' aides, and non-instructional supervisors-stayed solid in the face of a $1 OO,OOO-per-day fine against their union and threats of a mass firing.

Their strike peaked with a nineblock-long march to the board of education offices.

"We were 3,500 strong, singing songs of union solidarity and being applauded by community members," says JCEA activist Gerry Mattaliano. "We passed apartment buildings that had hand-painted sheets of support hanging from windows. City workers, store owners, and so many others raised their fists and cheered us on!" That unity-plus support from other NEA affiliates and even other unions-produced a contract that: Establishes a new evaluation procedure requiring timely feedback, corrective recommendations, and follow-up evaluation by the same supervisor.

Puts newly organized teaching assistants on a salary guide and provides them contractual benefits. Provides a raise equal to that in other state-run districts-12.3 percent over three years. Protects all health benefits.