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When Annette Palutis recalls the rally that led to collective bargaining rights for teachers, she starts the story a year earlier.
As an English, speech, and drama teacher in 1967 in the Scranton School District, Lackawanna County, Palutis was among 700 teachers who she said constituted the largest local association in the state (though she notes it wasn’t a formal association or union then).
And they were growing restless with unsuccessful efforts to negotiate an agreement with the school district.
Strikes were illegal, so the Scranton teachers held a two-day “educational seminar’’ during the school week at a Scranton hotel.
“It was very scary because you could be fired for going on strike,’’ Palutis said. “When I got there, I saw the superintendent’s daughter and I felt better. I figured they wouldn’t fire her.’’
An NEA representative came to Scranton to assist, and Palutis said a settlement was finally reached with district representatives in the back seat of a car.
The $900 raise was the biggest they ever received, but a taxpayer group sued on the basis that the raise was attained through an illegal strike.
“Our lawyers kept contending it wasn’t a strike; it was an educational seminar,’’ Palutis said. “It took us almost a year to get the money, and only then because Gov. (Raymond) Shafer agreed to give us amnesty.’’
But she and her fellow teachers didn’t rest at that. They knew there was a bigger picture statewide. They were prominent at the 1968 rally.
For Palutis, it was a life-changing experience. She said it marked her start in unionism, a beginning that would lead to PSEA local and region leadership positions, and two terms as PSEA president from 1991 to 1995. She is currently Northeastern Region president for PSEA-Retired.
“The rally was an unbelievable experience,’’ Palutis said. “It was such a wonderful feeling to be with our fellow teachers from around the state, and knowing in your heart that what you were asking for was the right thing.
“It stuck with me forever. My life was never the same.’’
