Strike illegal, but will teachers face consequences?
For being educated people, striking Kent teachers don’t seem to understand their strike is illegal, yet they still serve no consequence for their action. [“Kent teachers delay decision on whether to stay on strike,” page one, Sept. 4.]
Kent teachers point their fingers at other school districts when they talk about money and class sizes, so why don’t they leave the Kent District and go to those other districts?
The teachers’ strike has caused the rescheduling of the start of classes, so why don’t the students, parents and taxpayers insist the teachers’ union pay the district’s expenses for the period of time the strikes cost?
— H. Lontz, Kent
A history lesson in strikes from the Boston Tea Party
Is there ever a right time to strike? A right time to break the law?
Some of my ancestors believed strongly it was right to remain loyal to the crown, so they moved to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada; others thought the law bad, so they disguised themselves as Native Americans and threw tea into Boston Harbor to protest.
These Americans thought they had an inalienable right to break a bad law.
I taught for 31 years, and I am sure there’s more to the Kent teachers’ strike than is on the surface. I say, “Throw the tea in the harbor.”
— Delbert O. Lawrence, Bellevue