I have written about our public schools in the past, but this month I thought I’d write about an event that took place 55 years ago and not only had an effect on schools, but helped to change state law – the 1970 Minneapolis Teachers’ Strike.
In 1951 the Minnesota Legislature passed a harsh no-strike law for public employees. This law not only barred any increase in benefits for those who went on strike, but also strikers were automatically dismissed, lost their tenure, were put on two year’s probation, and forfeited any salary increases if rehired. In 1965 the Legislature passed a state bargaining law for all employees, except teachers. In 1967 a “meet and confer” law was passed. This law didn’t really change anything because there was no teeth in it. While teachers could meet with school boards or administrations, the school district didn’t have to actually do anything. There was no mediation or arbitration provision and it kept the provisions of the no-strike law that pertained to teachers. A strike vote taken by teachers in 1967 was narrowly defeated. There was some movement during the 1969 legislature to get rid of the harsh wage penalty of the no-strike law, but it failed.
It should be noted that in 1970, unlike today, teachers in Minneapolis were not all represented by one union. Of the 3400 teachers then, 1,800 teachers were represented by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 (MFT 59) and 1,600 were represented by the City of Minneapolis Education Association (CMEA). The CMEA was the more conservative of the two groups and MFT 59 was considered more militant and was affiliated with the AFL-CIO. A five seat Teachers’ Council was formed to meet and confer with the school district. It was made up of three members of the MFT and two members of the CMEA.
In the mid to late 1960s there were significant rises in class sizes, along with shortages of classroom supplies so teachers were forced to purchase materials for their classrooms. The meet and confer negotiations between the teachers’ unions and district administration to address these two issues, teacher pay, and lack of preparation time for elementary teachers had been going on for months during the 1969–1970 school year without an agreement. By the spring of 1970, teachers were preparing to take further action.
On April 6, 1970, MFT Local 59 voted to go on strike. The CMEA did not vote to strike. On the morning of April 9, 1970, 2,200 Minneapolis teachers hit the streets! This was a courageous move because the act of striking was illegal under Minnesota law, and these teachers risked losing their jobs, their benefits and their pensions. By day two of the strike, 27 schools had closed, half of them on the Northside. Starting on April 13, the Minneapolis School District closed all schools because it was impossible to carry on with more than half the teachers on strike. Students and families would often join the striking teachers on the picket lines. However not everyone was supportive. Governor LeVander threatened to call out the National Guard.
On April 28,1970 the MFT 59 teachers approved a settlement thus ending the strike. While the teachers didn’t get the amount of raises they wanted, they did manage to get set class sizes. They were also able to negotiate preparation time for elementary teachers which secondary teachers already had. This would be a major change for elementary students, as well as teachers. Until then music, art, physical education and media were all taught by the classroom teacher, but now specialists in those areas would be hired to teach students while the classroom teachers had their prep time.
There would be one other major thing that came as a direct result of the Minneapolis teachers’ strike. On the final day of a Special Session of the 1971 Legislative Session, the Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA) was enacted and signed into law by Governor Wendell Anderson. It provided public employees with the right to organize collectively and the right to strike. It also gave teacher unions the right to negotiate and bargain with school boards as equals and to establish a mandatory grievance procedure.
This courageous act by these Minneapolis teachers ended up benefitting all Minnesota public employees and would be felt by teachers’ unions across the country.