West Virginia teachers’ strike not over yet, despite promise to raise pay

Earlier in the week it appeared that the strike would wrap up when Gov. Jim Justice proposed a 5 percent raise for educators from across the state who had allied with labor groups to picket for wage increases.

Though labor union leaders said classes would resume by Thursday, teachers are intent on keeping pressure on lawmakers until a deal is passed through the state legislature, and therefore the strike continued through Friday.

However, progress has stalled. Legislation approved by county school superintendents that would give a 5 percent raise for teachers and state police went nowhere in the West Virginia Senate on Friday, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Lawmakers plan to meet again Saturday in Charleston.

Though the pay raise bill passed the state House on Wednesday, Finance Committee Chairman Craig Blair, a Republican, said there wasn’t enough time for debate in the lower chamber to iron out the specifics of the bill, like where the money would come from.

“There’s nobody that can deny, the House basically did not deliberate [on] this 5 percent pay raise bill at all,” he said, per the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Protesters gathered outside the Senate chamber, chanting such phrases, such as “We made a deal, pass that bill!” and “We’ll finish what we started!”

Teachers from all 55 counties of West Virginia have participated in a strike that began last Thursday after Justice had signed legislation for a 2 percent raise next year for teachers and a 1 percent raise in the two years afterwards. West Virginia teachers, who get some of the lowest salaries in the nation, were also upset that no language in the legislation had been devoted to increased costs of healthcare and a tax on payroll deduction options.