Jersey City teachers face down injunction
Jersey City, N.J. β Teachers here walked out on strike on Friday, March 16. Represented by the Jersey City Education Association, they refused to back down in the face of a court injunction that ordered them back to work. New Jersey state laws prohibit public sector unions from striking.
The teachersβ assertion of their right to strike has now won a big labor victory, according to union leaders. Late on Sunday, March 18, the JCEA announced that an agreement had been confirmed with the Board of Education, pending approval by a teachersβ vote to accept or reject the contract.
The union had spent the weekend making plans for picket lines in front of all 38 public schools, K through 12. Jersey City is the second-largest city in New Jersey by population (247,597) and is rich in racial, ethnic and language diversity. The overwhelming majority of the city is Black, Latinx, Asian and Arab. Its 30,000 public school students speak more than 40 different first languages.