Last week, more than 2,000 Seattle Education Association members, most of them proudly sporting their red union T-shirts, packed into Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle for a vote on whether to authorize a strike.

To supporters of the teachers who lined the way into the meeting, it was clear that the vote would be in favor of a walkout — the only question was the margin. When the time came to vote, the teachers, instructional assistants, paraprofessionals, nurses, counselors, substitute teachers, and office professionals covered by the SEA contract — people who have dedicated their lives to working with Seattle’s youth — unanimously roared “aye” in favor of the first open-ended teachers strike in Seattle in thirty years.

Roberta Lindeman, a veteran educator of more than thirty years, who recently retired from her full-time teaching job and now works as a substitute, summarized the sentiment of many others when she explained: