Four members of the Middletown teachers' union in New Jersey have been jailed, and two others subjected to fines of $50 a day, for refusing to obey a court order to desist from striking and return to work. The imprisonment of their colleagues---the first strike related imprisonment of New Jersey teachers in 23 years---seems to have only strengthened the resolve of the remaining 1000 teachers and secretaries who went who went out on strike last Thursday after contract negotiations with the school board broke down. Negotiations faltered when the local school board called for an increase of over 300% in teachers' yearly health insurance payments, and turned down a union counteroffer that would have led to less hardships for teachers.
See "New Jersey Teachers Jailed for Continuing to Strike", ROBERT HANLEY, The New York Times, December 3, 2001