Biden cancels appearance at NEA conference after union’s staff announces strike

President Joe Biden has canceled his planned appearance at the National Education Association conference in Philadelphia on Sunday after the union’s staff announced a strike.

“President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions, and he won’t cross a picket line,” the Biden campaign said in a statement Friday. “The President is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend, and we will have more details to share at a later point.”

NEA’s staff union, the National Education Association Staff Organization, said Friday it had filed two unfair labor practice complaints with the National Labor Relations Board over NEA’s failure to comply with union requirements.

The first complaint accuses NEA, the largest labor union in the United States, of wage theft by unilaterally removing holiday overtime pay. The second concerns the union’s “failure to provide information requested by the staff union on outsourcing more than $50 million to contractors,” according to NEASO.

“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,” NEASO President Robin McLean said.

“NEA would rather cancel a multi-million dollar convention than comply with labor law,” McLean added.

The strike is expected to last through the weekend at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, where NEA’s 103rd Representative Assembly is being held.

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The NEA said it has offered to increase the average salary for employees from $124,004 to $133,218, according to a report from the Hill.

“NEA values our staff and we remain fully committed to a fair bargaining process,” a NEA spokesperson said in a statement. “It is deeply concerning that misinformation has been shared related to our contract negotiations. This not only misrepresents the facts but also undermines the integrity of our ongoing efforts to honor a fair bargaining process.”