As public-sector unions such as teachers' unions used the boon of post-war liberalism to form their political power, they imported many of liberalism's key contradictions: its formation of racial contracts, its misappraisal of affective labour, and its opportunistic collective action logics. This article suggests cracks within liberalism weakened the political power of teachers' unions, disempowering a feminised workforce. Using a historical case study of teachers' strike in rural Wisconsin in 1974, this article shows how the tenuous solidarity afforded by liberal accords made teachers' unions more vulnerable to future neoliberal offensives on public education and its workers. The aftermath of the strike generated an opportunistic labour movement in which workers pursued their interests through legal provisions rather than by developing teachers' broader community and labour solidarities, subverting feminist possibilities of teachers' unions. This history suggests "how" teachers defend their rights as workers amidst a rising tide of neoliberalism matters.