Teachers in Pierce County district go on strike, delaying return to school for hundreds
Teachers in Eatonville officially went on strike Wednesday after a last-minute round of bargaining with the school district failed to bring the two sides together on a new contract, delaying the first day of school for some 1,800 students.
Michael Sniezak is president of the Eatonville Education Association, which represents roughly 110 teachers and support staff. Sniezak said that negotiations Tuesday did not move the needle on resolving the labor group’s concerns over classroom size, contract length or pay, among other issues that have been the subject of bargaining since June.
“The truth is we aren’t seeing progress,” Sniezak said by phone Wednesday. “It’s been very little back and forth. It’s really been a lot of stalemate.”
The union had authorized a strike on Aug. 30 if an agreement remained elusive by Wednesday, the day when students were supposed to return from summer vacation in the rural town about 31 driving miles southeast of Tacoma.
Eatonville, which has five schools including a high school, has an estimated population of 2,800 people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
In a message Tuesday notifying students’ families of the failed negotiations and looming strike, the Eatonville School District said that reaching an agreement is its highest priority.
“We appreciate your patience and understanding during this difficult time and look forward to welcoming our students and staff back to school as soon as possible,” the message read.
The district’s five schools will be closed through the duration of the strike. While teachers picketed at two school sites on Wednesday, the labor union and school district were scheduled to participate in six hours of continued talks through a mediator later in the day.
The work stoppage is the lone such labor dispute in Pierce County, but it comes as teachers in Seattle also went on strike Wednesday and as striking teachers in Kent reached a tentative agreement, according to multiple media reports.
In Eatonville, any school days missed as a result of the strike will be made up in a manner to be negotiated in settlement talks.
This story was originally published September 7, 2022 at 1:04 PM.
