If there were any lingering doubts over whether the United States is in the midst of a teachers’ strike wave, developments over the past few days should put these to rest. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the official strike data for 2018 and the verdict is clear: “The number of workers involved [in work stoppages] was the highest since 1986.” Of these strikers, the overwhelming majority were educators.

No less significantly, unionized teachers in Denver this weekend decided to move ahead with their work stoppage, which begins on Monday. Denver’s strike underscores that the recent victorious blue-state teachers’ revolt in Los Angeles was not an anomaly. Like in LA, this is fundamentally a strike against the austerity and “education reform” agenda imposed by Democratic Party politicians for well over a decade. Under the inspiration of the nationwide teachers’ upsurge, and the initiatives of a new rank-and-file caucus, Denver’s educators have successfully pushed their union to fight for the schools that students — and teachers — deserve.