You may believe that pension reform is too big an issue for you to be able to make an impact. You may think achieving success is impossible after social media campaigns, rallies, union lobbyists, and phone calls to legislators have failed…
…But that’s what politicians, billionaires, and corporations want you to think. They’ve spent untold sums of money to make a union’s most powerful tool – the strike – a dirty word. They want you to feel bad for even entertaining the thought of withholding your own labor. The only clear path towards undoing Tier 2 is for educators across the state to get over these conditioned and misguided beliefs.
A union’s strength is derived from its people. But we’ve forgotten what collective action really means.
20,000 West Virginia educators joined an illegal wildcat strike and earned a 5% statewide pay raise and a 5-year health insurance premium freeze.
81,000 Arizona educators joined an illegal strike that resulted in a 20% pay raise, $138 million in additional educational funding, and dramatically increased union membership.
13,000 Hawaii educators shut down education in their state completely to earn 10% statewide pay increase over two years and replace 4 instructional days with professional development days.
45,000 Oklahoma educators joined an illegal strike and achieved a statewide $10k raise, increased funding for public schools, and replaced 8 of 10 Oklahoma state representatives who voted against strike demands.
400,000 mine workers joined an illegal strike to standardize the 5-day workweek and forced Congress to implement robust retirement and health insurance plans for miners.
135,000 performers went on strike to gain a 41% increase in commercial earnings over 4 years – the largest contract in SAG-AFTRA history.
Even the worst strike outcomes – Haymarket Riot and Pullman Strikes – led to enduring cultural change – giving us May Day and Labor Day traditions.
Welcome to a world of limitless possibilities, where the journey is as exhilarating as the destination, and where every moment is an opportunity to make your mark on the canvas of existence. The only limit is the extent of your imagination.
90,000 teachers in IEA. All ready for change.
We are the largest union in the state of Illinois. 135,000 educators with just shy of 90,000 teachers among them. That means we play a critical role in not just the fight for Tier 2, but all public labor reform. Teachers are in a unique position of power to stand up for the rest – not just for all educators, but for all Illinois public employees. While actually going on strike is not an outcome to be desired, Illinois teachers must prove they are willing to use their numbers to bring about change. Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly do not believe you can organize. You have to prove them wrong.
The best organizers in the U.S. consider 85% of membership to be the magic number for supermajority protection. Every teacher strike above was illegal in some way – some even violated state or federal law. Striking is not against state law in Illinois, but is a civil contract violation if working under a no-strike clause. Educator contracts are required by IELRB (Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board) to include a no strike clause. If a local goes on strike while under contract, the school district can terminate employees – and no unfair labor practice can be filed against the school district for doing so.
Yet in all these teacher strikes, we do not see retaliation against individual teachers – either from the state or from school districts. Why not? Because they each had supermajority protection. Who will your school district hire to replace you if 85% of the teachers in our state strike; other striking teachers? Besides, Tier 2 is bad for administrators as well. It creates labor shortages and chases talent away from education and into the private sector. Increasingly, more and more administrators are part of the Tier 2 system themselves.
The plan: Build enough collective power to call for a statewide teacher strike at the beginning of the 2028-2029 school year and force Governor Pritzker to the negotiating table.
The most successful collective action efforts followed similar steps to achieve supermajority protection. Those steps did not complete themselves. Regular members – not leadership – made them happen. Here’s what you need to do.
Step 1: MAKE THE ASK
The most significant hurdle towards collective action is convincing people they will not be alone. You can overcome this by spreading a confidential petition around your building. It should be clear to those signing that these petitions will not be seen by administration. You can ensure this by keeping the petition in your possession at all times.
Member-to-member movements means having conversations. It is up to YOU to figure out which strategy is best for spreading the petitions around your local. You could start with your local’s executive committee, or just start talking to your closest coworkers and go from there.
That’s it! The first step of the plan doesn’t require money, nor a lot of time, or meaningless gestures. It only requires you to make the ask whether your coworkers are willing to join you. If you agree to start spreading the petition around your school, let us know that you are working on it. Even 1 signature, your own, is enough to join the cause. The more numbers we have – the easier it becomes for others to join.
Keep collecting signatures! A local needs 75% of members to be ready to call for a strike – but we think every one of your members should be asked to join. When 75% of your colleagues have signed on, your petition is complete.
Step 2: Photo Petition
Each step of this plan is what leading organizers call “stress tests”. They are proof-of-concept tests that ensure everyone engaging in collective action is protected. These tests are designed to escalate over time.
Step 2 of the plan requires that 51% of all IEA locals have completed confidential petitions. IEA GPAs – who will be coordinating this effort – will let you know when this happens. Now comes the scary part.
Each local with a completed confidential petition should post a photo to social media alongside a demand for Tier 2 reform. Ideally, each member makes the same post at the same time – a group photo of your local’s willing participants in statewide collective action. At this point, 40,000 teachers in Illinois will post on social media in coordinated action. Everyone, including employers, the General Assembly, and Governor Pritzker, will now be aware of the plan. IEA locals yet to be contacted as well as hesitant locals will see the broad collective desire to enact change. A photo petition does not violate your contract.
Confidential petitions continue to be distributed until 75% of locals have completed petitions.
Step 3: One Day Statewide Sick-Out
Step 3 of the plan requires 75% of locals to have completed petitions. This step and the next will be well telegraphed to Governor Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly in hopes they will come to reason and negotiate with IEA lobbyists to fix Tier 2. But barring that, teachers will be prepared for coordinated action.
In coordinated action, all educators who have signed on will stage a one-day sick out. This will prove viability and willingness towards full strike action.
Step 4: Statewide Strike
Step 4 of the plan requires that 85% of teachers have signed on. Approximately 74,000 IEA teachers plus tens of thousands more IEA educators will engage in a statewide strike in coordination with an IEA-backed legislative proposal for Tier 2 reform. This is to be done at the beginning of the 2027-2028 school year to force Governor Pritzker to the negotiating table.