NEA Staffers Locked Out After 3-Day Strike Disrupts Convention, Biden Speech

The National Education Association and members of its employees union are back at the bargaining table after a three-day strike that disrupted the NEA’s annual conference and led to the cancellation of a speech by President Joe Biden. But when a contract agreement might be reached is unknown. Also unclear is when staffers will be allowed to return to work after the NEA locked them out of their jobs the day the strike ended.

Roughly 300 employees are not receiving pay or benefits during the lockout. The union, the National Education Association Staff Organization (NEASO), has been without a contract since May 31.

The NEASO launched the strike — its second walkout this summer — on July 5 in Philadelphia, during contract negotiations and the union’s annual delegate assembly. In response, the NEA canceled the remainder of the conference, which had been scheduled to go through the weekend. Biden was supposed to speak at the event but pulled out, refusing to cross the picket line.

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On July 8, the day after the conference had been scheduled to end, NEA shuttered its office doors.

Hundreds of NEASO members rallied in front of NEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., on July 8 and 10, calling the lockout unlawful and punitive.

“They have tried to paint the picture of NEASO as being disrespectful. They have tried to paint the picture of NEASO being individuals who are greedy,” Robin McLean, NEASO president, said at the July 10 rally. “They look at us like we are not humans. They have bars on the doors so you can’t get in. Who does that?”

Contract negotiations focus primarily on wages, such as an annual 4% raise, a return to annual salary step increases after a 12-year freeze and limits on when the NEA can contract out bargaining unit work.

NEASO staged a previous strike in June, claiming the union has a history of engaging in bad-faith bargaining tactics and committing other unfair labor practices. The union has filed multiple charges with the National Labor Relations Board this year, including allegations that the NEA withheld holiday overtime pay and failed to give information on the outsourcing of millions of dollars in bargaining unit work.

In late June , NEASO alleged that a manager physically assaulted a staffer and retaliated after the employee reported the attack. It also claimed that the NEA has unilaterally changed working conditions without bargaining them.

NEA officials have denied the claims . In an email statement July 8, a spokesperson said the union has “always bargained in good faith and remain[s] fully committed to and respect[s] the collective bargaining process.”

“Over the past two weeks, NEASO employees have walked off their jobs twice,” NEA said in the email. “To best protect the interests of our members, the Association and our staff, we have made the difficult decision to institute a protective lockout of the NEASO-represented employees to safeguard NEA’s operations.”

In a letter to Kim Anderson, NEA executive director, McLean contested union claims that the walkouts weren’t covered under the National Labor Relations Act. She said the job actions weren’t unlawful because they weren’t a “a plan to strike, return to work and strike again” or a strategy of a “multiplicity of little ‘hit and run’ work stoppages” to harass the organization.

NEASO has repeatedly called for NEA to allow staff to return to their offices, saying the union’s decision to lock employees out is unlawful retaliation.

“It is my sincere hope that NEA will start complying with the National Labor Relations Act, cease and desist in any further unfair labor practices and comport itself like a labor union, not like an anti-union corporation,” McLean wrote in the July 11 letter.

“NEA has offered and remains prepared to reach an agreement that provides raises and a competitive salary, maintains all aspects of a generous package of benefits, a pension plan that provides a secure retirement for all staff and accessible, high-quality health care for staff and their families,” the union said in a July 8 statement.

Erin Wagner, who has worked as a senior digital strategist for NEA the past six years, said at the July 10 rally that she has hardly seen any change in her compensation since she was hired.

“On the salary that I make, trying to live here, trying to raise my daughter in this city, it’s just not sustainable,” said Wagner, who lives in Washington. “I am one of the 25% of NEASO members who have to work second and third jobs just to work here.”

McLean urged members to stand their ground through the lockout and negotiations.

“Remember we can’t get weary. We have to stand the course. We have to see this to the end. The very end,” she told the crowd at the July 10 rally. “Some may say that how do you do it? I do it because of you. I worked with all of you for almost 23 years as of August. I don’t take this role lightly. We are making a difference. Stand the course. We’re going to win.”