In striking are teachers undermining their own profesional standing and authority?

When teachers strike it is for a stronger contract. It has nothing to do with the students or the school or the community. The contract, or CBA (collective bargaining agreement), is a legal doent between the school district and the teachers' ociation (union). The CBA specifies salary, benefits, and working conditions. Some things are standard in the school code, but all other points are bargained. The contract gives teachers financial stability which is for their families, not their students. All during the school year teachers give all for their students, spending their own money on cl supplies, coming early and staying late, calling parents in the evening, and going over and above for their students. Three times during my career I participated in a legal strike so that I could better provide for my family. The third time I was ociation President and on the negotiation team. The third time was the longest but when we returned to school, I did not experience any change in my authority or feel undermined in any way. In fact, we returned stronger than ever, and did not experience any significant change in the community school support. Professional people such as doctors and lawyers can be self employed or work in a practice and set their own salary, benefits, and working conditions. If employees or ociates, they have to individually bargain on their own. In PA. teachers do not individually negotiate their own contracts. An ociation can legally represent all the members of the bargaining unit whether union members or not.