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Fourteen of the Hortonville teachers who were fired in 1974 attended the 1999 WEAC Representative Assembly. They are, from left: Jeanne Lee, John Quinn, Dave Hettiger, Ken Couillard, Mabel Grummer, Jim O’Hern, Jim Olson, Rose Olson, Karen Zeinart, Ken Mertens, Ethel Beyer, Bob Newhouse, Carol Gruetzmacher, and Jerry Addie.
Twenty-five years after the rancorous Hortonville teachers' strike, Mabel Grummer remembers it like it was yesterday. She remembers the hate and the fear, and the terrible, insecure feeling of losing her job. But she also remembers the pride that came from standing up for something she believed in, and the feelings of comfort, gratitude and camaraderie generated by the hundreds of teachers throughout the state who came to stand alongside her and her colleagues.
"It was a devastating time," Grummer said in speech to the 1999 WEAC Representative Assembly. "But it was also a time of personal growth. I am proud of the stand we took."
Grummer was one of 14 strikers who attended the RA to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the strike. Each of the strikers was introduced to a standing ovation from delegates and received a plaque honoring them "for sacrifices made 25 years ago that have benefited all employees in Wisconsin public schools."
"The Hortonville teachers were as brave in facing their anti-union employer as any of us could ever wish to be," WEAC President Terry Craney told the delegates. "Even though they were fired, they never surrendered. They displayed courage, unity, and a spirit that inspired the rest of us to attack a law that allowed such a travesty."
Craney praised teachers from throughout the state who traveled to Hortonville to assist the fired strikers.
"We showed a lot of muscle, but we could not overcome formations of helmeted deputies, a court order restricting the number of pickets, a state superintendent who refused to enforce laws prohibiting unlicensed strikebreakers from teaching, and a law that made the strike illegal," Craney added.
"When we couldn't accomplish our goal on the picket lines, we moved to the political arena where we used the firings as proof that the law was unfair to teachers. Through political action and lobbying, we won a new law in 1977 that legalized strikes and provided for binding arbitration. We defined the moment.
"We owe that law to the sacrifices of the 84 teachers who lost their jobs because they struck illegally."
Posted April 26, 1999