Teachers across Puerto Rico are on strike. Because of their centralized education system (in which strikes are illegal) collective bargaining decisions are made at the state level; so, the strike is an Island-wide, illegal strike by the FMPR, a 42,000 teacher strong association. Their press release says that 26,000 teachers went on strike late last week and 85% of schools across Puerto Rico are not functioning property. The strike has even included a little violence as teachers were injured and arrested in clashes with authorities.

Cruz at Daily Kos has an opinion on the issue and a petition you can send to Puerto Rican authorities.

Anyway, it presents an interesting picture of what would/could happen if states moved to a centralized system for collective bargaining decisions instead of keeping the decentralized, local school board decision making system in place. As collective bargaining and teacher compensation become a bigger and bigger issue in the States, this is something to keep in mind.