NK Teachers Won’t Cross Custodian Picket Line

North Kingstown public school teachers voted unanimously this afternoon to stand in solidarity with their fellow workers who plan a strike Tuesday for the first day of school to fight for fair wages for school custodians.

Mary Barden, a middle school social studies teacher who is president of the local teachers’ union said the members agreed to do so both for safety concerns – because it can be dangerous to cross a picket line, she said – and “equally as important we want to stand in solidarity with the people we work with every day. We want them to know we support and honor what they are doing.”

Barden said union members passed three resolutions at the afternoon meeting.

The first was that if school is cancelled they will not report. If school is not cancelled teachers will report to school “but we will not cross a picket line.” The third motion was to follow the same process if the custodians and the school department have still not worked out their differences.