America’s teachers’ unions are offering another masterclass in dishonesty. Following post-pandemic strikes in blue cities like Minneapolis, Oakland, and Sacramento, teachers in Portland, Oregon—where the average educator earns $87,000 for 192 days of work—spent the better part of November on a picket line.

Mind you, Portland is the same place whose public-education system kept students out of school for longer than nearly any other big-city district during the pandemic. Portland’s students remain far behind academically, and chronic absenteeism in city schools has doubled since the pandemic began. The school system has seen massive enrollment losses.

Against this backdrop, the city’s teachers’ union, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), decided that this was a good time to strike, even claiming that walking off the job was in the best interest of Portland students.