When solidarity doesn’t quite strike: the 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin teachers’ strike and the rise of neoliberalism

Schirmer, Eleni

doi:10.1080/09540253.2016.1197381

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Superintendents saw Red for Ed as targeted at state-level leadership, not themselves, thus illustrating the difference between this situation and previous strikes/walkouts. Previous strikes and labor actions were more localized to specific districts and communities (Scribner, 2015;Schirmer, 2017;Shuffelton, 2014) wherein the superintendents themselves and perhaps their governing boards bore the brunt of teacher ire. From the superintendents' perspective regarding the Red for Ed movement, teacher leadership targeted the governors and state legislatures with their demands for funding and reform.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The strikes that did occur tended to be localized in nature (Horn, 2017;Shuffelton, 2014) and focused on conflict of teachers in a given district against the superintendent and governing board of that district. Schirmer's (2017) exploration of the strike in Hortonville, Wisconsin, explores concepts of local control versus rising neo-liberal and conservative philosophies. Schirmer suggests this strike formed a key turning point in the shift from organized labor actions to influencing state legislation.…”

Section: Teacher Strikes Walkouts and Labor Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Red for Ed teacher walkouts, so named as participating teachers and their allies wore symbolically red shirts, represent a new direction in educator job actions. Red for Ed effectively synthesized the localized union activity, such as striking, that was more prevalent in the late 1960s (Barnetson, 2010;Horn, 2017;Robert & Tyssens, 2008;Schirmer, 2017;Shuffelton, 2014) with the more recent focus of educational associations since the 1980s on state-level legislative negotiations (Myers, 2007). In making this synthesis of union tactics with state-level activism, Red for Ed represents another step in resurgent unionism seen in other statewide actions such as the resistance to Wisconsin's Act 10 (Nack et al, 2020;Schirmer & Apple, 2016;Secunda, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Red for Ed Teacher Movements: Exploring Roles and Symbols in the Politics of the Superintendency

Szolowicz

Wisman

2021

Educational Administration Quarterly

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Purpose: In recent years, a new wave of teacher-led political action has erupted resulting in work stoppages in several states across the United States. This study examines how superintendents navigated this Red for Ed movement in two representative states. Methods: Framed as a multisite, embedded case study, we drew from public documents and semistructured interviews with superintendents. We took a deductive approach to data analysis, seeking analytic generalization to the theoretical frameworks adopted herein. Findings: Red for Ed-motivated teacher job actions did create a political dilemma for superintendents. Superintendents addressed the dilemma by utilizing the roles of business manager, instructional leader, and politician as expressed through symbolic politics including assigning responsibility and vaguely supporting the Red for Ed cause. Superintendent responses are consistent with isomorphic tenants of sociological institutionalism. Implications: Considering the modern superintendency’s political nature, superintendents might benefit from preparation in political strategy and tactics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Teacher Strikes Walkouts and Labor Actionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Red for Ed Teacher Movements: Exploring Roles and Symbols in the Politics of the Superintendency

Szolowicz

Wisman

2021

Educational Administration Quarterly

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State Phobia, Then and Now: Three Waves of Conflict over Wisconsin's Public Sector, 1930–2013

Collins¹,

Carlson²

2017

Soc. sci. hist.

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While state legislative rollbacks of public-sector workers’ collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and other US states in 2011 appeared to signal an unprecedented wave of hostility toward the public sector, such episodes have a long history. Drawing on recent work on “governance repertoires,” this article compares antistate initiatives in Wisconsin in 2011 to two previous periods of conflict over the size and shape of government: the 1930s and the 1970s. We find that while small government advocates in all three periods used similar language and emphasized comparable themes, the outcomes of their advocacy were different due to the distinct historical moments in which they unfolded and the way local initiatives were linked to political projects at the national level. We explore the relationship of local versions of small government activism to their national-level counterparts in each period to show how national-level movements and the ideological, social, and material resources they provided shaped governance repertoires in Wisconsin. We argue that the three moments of conflict over the size of government are deeply intertwined with the prehistory, emergence, and rise to dominance of neoliberal political rationality and can provide insight into how that new “governance repertoire” was experienced and built at the local level.

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Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America

Thomas

Tufts

2019

Work, Employment and Society

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With a focus on police unions in the United States and Canada, this article argues that the construction of ‘blue solidarity’, including through recent Blue Lives Matter campaigns, serves to repress racial justice movements that challenge police authority, acts as a counter to broader working class resistance to austerity and contributes to rising right-wing populism. Specifically, the article develops a case study analysis of Blue Lives Matter campaigns in North America to argue that police unions construct forms of ‘blue solidarity’ that produce divisions with other labour and social movements and contribute to a privileged status of their own members vis-a-vis the working class more generally. As part of this process, police unions support tactics that reproduce racialised ‘othering’ and that stigmatise and discriminate against racialised workers and communities. The article concludes by arguing that organised labour should maintain a critical distance from police unions.

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When solidarity doesn’t quite strike: the 1974 Hortonville, Wisconsin teachers’ strike and the rise of neoliberalism

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

Red for Ed Teacher Movements: Exploring Roles and Symbols in the Politics of the Superintendency

Red for Ed Teacher Movements: Exploring Roles and Symbols in the Politics of the Superintendency

State Phobia, Then and Now: Three Waves of Conflict over Wisconsin's Public Sector, 1930–2013

Blue Solidarity: Police Unions, Race and Authoritarian Populism in North America

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