A ‘game changer’

More than the smoke from the steel mills hung in the air over western Pennsylvania in the late 1960s.

The Vietnam War, college unrest, race riots, and other issues were weighing on the national conscience. Locally, young teachers like Butch Santicola were no longer willing to accept substandard pay, and such horrendous treatment of female teachers who lost their jobs if they became pregnant.

“The times were on our side, and many of us who were just out of college were comfortable with militancy,’’ said Santicola, then an elementary teacher in the Aliquippa School District, Beaver County. “We saw guys going into the mills who were making two and three times more than we were.’’

Santicola was instrumental in organizing protests, including “sickouts’’ from the “chalk dust flu.’’

He said a major boost came from administrators, who were the primary leaders of PSEA at the time. “They were very supportive of the teachers’ movement,’’ Santicola said.

That movement came to a crescendo on March 4, 1968.

“Critics scoffed that we’d be lucky to get 1,000 people there,’’ Santicola said. “Well, we showed them. The excitement that day was just overwhelming.  Those of us who were young militants knew it was a game changer.’’

Just as important as the main rally in Harrisburg were the many satellite rallies around the state. Rather than attend the rally in Harrisburg, Santicola stayed behind and helped organize a rally in western Pennsylvania.

The solidarity on display that day led to the right to collective bargaining. Santicola and other young teachers at the time would come to work for PSEA and help develop a model contract for locals. It included pay scales, sick days, medical coverage, and language on transfers.

“I get stopped a lot by current teachers who tell me how much they appreciate what we did,’’ Santicola said. “Some will say, ‘my Dad’ was at the rally, or ‘my Mom was there.’ A lot of people took a chance.’’