In today’s News and Commentary, Sheridan, Colorado educators go on strike, and Maryland graduate student workers are one step closer to winning collective bargaining rights.

Yesterday, teachers and staff with the Sheridan Education Association in Sheridan, Colorado went on strike for better pay and improved working conditions. While the school district initially told families that schools would remain open, on Tuesday the district alerted families that all schools would be closed through the end of the week. The relationship between educators and the school district has been escalating since the district allowed the collective bargaining agreement to lapse last August. According to the union, staff were initially prohibited from entering the public portion of the school board’s emergency meeting on Tuesday evening. The district called police on educators and parents rallying outside the meeting. Educators on the picket line claim that the school district is failing to recognize their union, declining to make counter offers, and refusing to recognize classified staff as members of the bargaining unit. According to the union, the district’s actions hurt both workers and children. The last educator strike in Colorado was more than five years ago, when Denver Public Schools staff and teachers struck for three days.

Last week, both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly passed versions of a bill that would give public university graduate students collective bargaining rights. Graduate student workers in Maryland have been lobbying for such a bill for over fifteen years. But several amendments to the bill are preventing graduate student workers from celebrating. Under the amended bill, which the House will hear Tuesday, graduate student workers would not be able to bargain until 2028. And the bill only applies to students at two campuses of the University of Maryland and does not cover jobs funded by grants. The University, which has lobbied against the bill, previously claimed that it cannot afford to negotiate with graduate students. According to legislators supporting the bill, the amendments limit financial strain and give schools time to prepare. But graduate student workers argue they urgently need collective bargaining rights, as many students struggle to afford food on their stipends.