NEA employees go on strike; Biden cancels speech to group

The National Education Association Staff Organizations (NEASO) announced Friday that they will go on strike, prompting President Biden to cancel a planned speech before the NEA convention.

NEASO said it was on an Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) strike against NEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., filing two ULP complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.

The group alleges that the nation’s largest teachers union failed to negotiate unilateral changes, accusing the NEA of wage theft and failing to provide information about the outsourcing of $50 million to contractors.

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

“The NEA would rather cancel a multimillion-dollar convention than comply with labor legislation. NEA members should question where their hard-earned debt money is being used – and wasted,” McLean added.

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

In response to the news, Biden’s re-election campaign announced that he would no longer address the NEA on Sunday.

“President Biden is a staunch supporter of unions and will not cross a picket line. The president is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend and we will have more details to share at a later date,” the campaign said in a statement. declaration.

Biden 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 auto workers in Belleville, Michigan.

The Hill has reached out to the NEA for comment.

—Updated at 11:42 am. Alex Gangitano contributed.

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