May 1 is International Workers’ Day. This past May Day, over 20,000 education workers in South Carolina took a “personal day” and converged on the state legislature in Raleigh. Strikers included not only teachers, but bus drivers, custodians, counselors, and nurses. Student supporters from across the state also turned out. In total, they shut down 35 school districts for the day, showing that when workers get organized, they can shut down whole systems and even industries. Workers really do hold the cards, if only we lean how to play them!
The work stoppage was organized by the North Carolina Association of Educators. Like teachers striking in other states since 2018, the union and its supporters are demanding better pay and conditions for school workers, as well as a better education for students. For example, they want the schools to be adequately staffed with psychologists, librarians, nurses and counselors. They are also demanding $15-an-hour minimum for all school personnel.
In South Carolina, over 10,000 educator workers and supporters amassed outside the Department of Education in Columbia, the state capital. The action was organized by a Facebook group called SC for Ed. Like their counterparts in North Carolina, demonstrators called for improvements for both workers and students. This was one of the biggest gatherings ever to take place at the state capital, matched only by the crowds that gathered in 2015 to see the Confederate flag finally removed from the statehouse.
Kathy Maness, with the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said, “For many years, I have said that teachers in South Carolina have been sleeping giants. They would go in their classroom, they would do their job and would not speak up for their profession. I think that sleeping giant is waking up.”