West Virginia Strike Continues to Thursday
West Virginia Teachers' Strike Ends With a Promise to Raise Pay
A teachers' strike that ground public schools to a halt across West Virginia is set to end on Thursday, a week after it began, Gov. James C. Justice and teachers' union representatives said Tuesday. They announced a deal that signaled a win for unions in a reddening state, even though some lawmakers and even the teachers themselves expressed doubts it would ultimately work.
Mr. Justice, a Republican, said that he had promised the state's teachers and other school employees a 5 percent raise and that he would create a task force to address the problem of rising insurance costs for public employees, a key issue in the strike.
"We need our kids back in school, and we need our teachers back in school," Mr. Justice said in a news conference announcing the deal. He added that he was "hopeful" that state lawmakers would go along with his proposals, which would also give all state employees a 3 percent raise. But some Republican lawmakers appeared deeply skeptical of his plan to find the money.
The strike left more than 250,000 children out of school in the state's 55 counties. Teachers crying "We'll get louder" and carrying signs with slogans like "WV teachers deserve better" flooded the State Capitol, their voices echoing through the halls. The teachers frequently cited data showing that they are among the lowest-paid public educators in the United States.
The deal, should it come to fruition, would mark a significant victory for organized labor as the Supreme Court weighs a case that could sharply curb unions' power across the country. And it comes in a state with a storied history of mining unions — though their clout has faded with the coal industry.
"Our teachers are saying to us: We know that we did this," said Christine Campbell of the West Virginia arm of the American Federation of Teachers.
Mr. Justice said the raises would be paid for by revising revenue estimates upward.
"Maybe I was looking at it as, what was the prudent thing to do, and not necessarily looking at education as an investment," Mr. Justice said at the news conference, which he exited partway through because he had to coach a girls' basketball game.
But powerful Republican lawmakers in the state, including the Senate president, Mitch Carmichael, immediately expressed deep reservations about that plan.
"The governor says there's more money. We want to see it," Mr. Carmichael said, adding, "I'm skeptical the money is real."
And it is not yet clear exactly what the state will do to stem the rising cost of insurance. That, more than salary — which lawmakers had agreed before the strike to raise by 2 percent — was the tipping point for many of the teachers who joined the walkout. Teachers say they have struggled with rising premiums and other health care costs.
The Public Employees Insurance Agency, which administers state employees' health plans, has said it will freeze rates in 2019, but teachers have pushed for a longer-term fix.
"Most people are not completely satisfied," said Erica Newsome, 32, an English teacher from Madison, W.Va., who was part of a grass-roots group of teachers who first began discussing their frustration with health care costs last fall.
"We are underpaid and we do need a raise," Ms. Newsome said, "but if we aren't going to fix the insurance, it's just the same story as before."
Union leaders said Tuesday night that Mr. Justice's promises were enough to get the teachers back into classrooms, at least for now.
"We needed evidence — the teachers needed evidence, the service personnel — and I think this is a commitment, this is a beginning of better things to happen," Ms. Campbell said. Her group organized the strike along with the West Virginia Education Association and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association.
She said the teachers had tried to keep their demands realistic.
"They don't want to be first in the country in pay," Ms. Campbell added. "They know where we live — in West Virginia. They want to be out of 48th."
Dale Lee, the president of the West Virginia Education Association, did not rule out another strike if the deal with the governor falls through.
"We reserve the right to call our teachers and service professionals out at a later date if we need to," Mr. Lee said.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/west-virginia-teachers-strike-ends.html
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