A Comparative Study of Striking and Non-Striking Teachers in Selected School Districts in the United States.

The purpose of this study was to compare selected variables related to striking and non-striking teachers in certain school districts that were involved in a strike situation during September or October of 1979. One thousand randomly selected public school teachers from districts that were engaged in a strike situation at the beginning of the school year composed the population. Three hundred seventy-one partially or completely filled out questionnaires were returned and utilized for analysis. Data analyses were intended to reveal selected demographic characteristics, general characteristics of the educational setting, educational experience, level of training and tenure status, influence on decision making, and the perceived possible future actions of striking and non-striking teachers who responded to the mailed questionnaire. The following conclusions were drawn regarding the respondents\u27 answers to the questions. Most of the respondents, whether they were strikers or non-strikers, were female, married, Caucasian, teaching at an elementary school with a predominately white student body taught by a predominately white faculty and a student enrollment of over 500. The age of the strikers clustered around the 25-30-year-old group with those respondents younger than 25 and over 50 not inclined to strike. Most of the teachers who responded had formal training at the bachelor\u27s degree level and had from four to seven years of teaching experience. Strikers and non-strikers reported that the greatest source of pressure to leave their teaching assignment prior to the strike came from co-workers and professional organizations. Both groups also indicated that the central office and the school board greatly hindered progress in providing assistance in the settlement of the strike. Tenure status apparently had little or no effect on whether or not a teacher elected to strike. Alternative source of income during the strike situation also had little, if any, effect on the decision to strike; overall only 34 percent of the total sample had an alternative source of income. Both groups strongly indicated that another strike would be necessary in the future, and the responses indicate that more than 65 percent of the total group would participate in a strike in the future