New York City finally did the right thing last month when it decided to move forward and reopen the city’s schools on Tuesday. But that reopening won’t happen now, thanks to the city’s teachers union.

Citing concerns with the city’s safety criteria, the United Federation of Teachers threatened to strike if city officials stuck to their original reopening date. New York hasn’t had a teachers strike since 1975, and according to city law, it’s actually illegal for teachers to abandon their classrooms for the picket line. But the union’s president, Michael Mulgrew, said he would bring a strike authorization vote to the union’s delegate assembly anyway — even though there is little scientific evidence backing up the union’s health concerns.

The city now has a COVID-19 positivity rate of less than 1%, and given the low risk of transmission among children, the teachers union’s supposed fear over mass spread in classrooms is wildly overstated. But the UFT wasn’t interested in facts and successfully forced city officials to delay the in-person reopening date until Sept. 21.

The same thing happened in Detroit after the school district approved a reopening plan that allowed for smaller in-person class sizes and additional safety regulations, including masks, social distancing, and optional remote learning. In protest, the Detroit Federation of Teachers authorized a safety strike, with 91% of the union’s members in favor and 9% against.

In New Jersey, one northern school district was forced to shut its schools’ doors because more than 375 teachers refused to show up to work due to “health-related issues.”

This is shameful behavior from the men and women we trust to teach and guide our children. It is well known at this point that distance learning does not work — at least not as it is now. Students of all ages have suffered serious setbacks over the past few months because of it. Yet our nation’s public educators and the unions that represent them have selfishly abandoned their students’ needs to bicker over regulations.

Is it any wonder so many parents are turning to private schools and homeschooling groups? But that, too, is a problem, according to teachers unions. Fueled by a power-hungry desire for centralization, teachers unions across the country are waging war on private schools in an attempt to keep parents dependent on the public school system. In Los Angeles, the district’s largest teachers union demanded a “moratorium” on all charter schools. And in Montgomery County, Maryland, the teachers unions convinced county officials to pass an ordinance barring nonpublic schools from meeting in person. The state government had to intervene to block it.

If it wasn’t obvious already, our teachers unions’ only priority is gaining power and keeping it. They do not care about the teachers they represent or the parents that entrust their children to public schools. And they certainly do not care about our students. The debate over reopening has only confirmed this.

Government officials need to do the right thing and stand up to these teachers unions. If they don’t, the unions will never stop the bullying, and our school systems will be worse off for it.