Vol. 71/No. 27      July 9, 2007

“We’re fighting for a fair salary and to maintain our health-care benefits,” said Tim Carew, a music teacher at North Quincy High School for four years. “We’re very unified; the vote to strike was close to 100 percent.”

The 890 members of the Quincy Education Association had been without a contract since August 2006. State law forbids teachers to strike. On June 12, the union members voted to continue the strike even though a Superior Court judge had ordered them back to work.

Teachers returned to work two days later with an announcement of a tentative settlement, which the teachers later approved.

Several students joined the picket line outside North Quincy High School. “Our teachers are taking a stand. It’s kind of cool to see them rebel—a good example to follow,” said Hannah Chan, a junior at the school. “They deserve to be respected.”

—Sarah Ullman

South Africa: Striking public
workers reject gov’t pay offer
Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have been on strike since June 1, in what has become the biggest and most protracted strike in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994, reported Agence France-Presse. The workers are demanding a 10 percent wage increase. The unions turned down a revised government offer of a 7.5 percent pay raise June 22. The unions represent about 60 percent of the country’s 1 million public employees, including in the schools and hospitals.

—Brian Williams  
 
 
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