NEA staff goes on strike days before Biden speech

The National Education Association Staff Organizations (NEASO) announced Friday it is going on strike days ahead of a speech President Biden is supposed to make at the NEA's annual convention.

The NEASO said they were on a Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike against the NEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., filing two ULP complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.  

The group alleges the country's largest teachers’ union has not bargained over unilateral changes, accusing the NEA of wage theft and failing to provide information regarding outsourcing $50 million to contractors. 

“The National Education Association has threatened to host its convention virtually to avoid a physical picket line. For a union to trick its members into crossing a picket line is reprehensible. It also confirms what we have been saying: NEA has abandoned its union values with its actions at the bargaining table,” said NEASO President Robin McLean. 

“NEA would rather cancel a multi-million-dollar convention than comply with labor law. NEA members should question where their hard-earned dues dollars are being used — and wasted,” McLean added. 

The strike will last for two days at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. 

Biden is set to be one of the speakers at the NEA convention, but the strike could endanger that appearance. He has repeatedly referred to himself as the most pro-labor president in history and in September he became the first sitting commander in chief to join a picket line, marching with autoworkers in Belleville, Mich.

The Hill has reached out to the NEA and White House for comment.