In the state of West Virginia, it is illegal for public employees to go on strike. Nevertheless, for more than a week, teachers across the state abandoned their classrooms at the behest of their unions. As a result, the parents of nearly 300,000 students were forced to squander sick days, use hard-earned vacation time, dip into their pockets to pay for child care, or miss work.
Many West Virginians probably agree that teachers in the Mountain State have pressing concerns. They are among the lowest paid in the nation, earning on average $45,622 (a little more than the state’s median household income of $42,644). They are also concerned, as are many Americans, that their health insurance premiums keep going up.
But their complaints have not been ignored. State lawmakers had sought to address these issues in a fair but fiscally responsible manner. Earlier this session, the legislature passed a pay raise that represented about a 4 percent increase over three years. This pay raise is closer to 9 percent after accounting for the $500 salary increase teachers already receive on an annual basis. And the Public Employee Insurance Agency, or PEIA, which is responsible for all state public employee healthcare benefits, has frozen current rates until policymakers can determine a long-term solution.
This wasn’t enough to satisfy the teachers or their unions. These measures were taken weeks ago, yet the strike continued as the unions repeatedly moved the goal posts.
Striking teachers called the initial pay raise a “huge slap in the face.” And the unions wanted a tax increase to “fully fund” PEIA, though they didn’t define what that means. It’s likely they want no premium increases or for taxpayers to pay 100 percent of their healthcare costs, as was the case years ago. Both were highly unrealistic given the nature of our country’s broken healthcare system.
Next, union officials struck a deal with Gov. Jim Justice to use a budget gimmick to upwardly adjust the state’s projected revenues by $58 million and put that entirely toward teacher salaries. This would amount to an immediate 5 percent pay raise for teachers and 3 percent for other public employees. And teachers would go back to school.
But even as union officials proclaimed victory at a rally after the announcement, some rank-and-file members booed them. Teachers in all 55 counties then refused to go back to work, demanding an even more generous deal with more PEIA funding. These additional outrageous demands, and the subsequent wildcat strike, made it obvious that the teachers had no intention of living up to the deal they had struck.
The unrealistic government union demands, combined with the rose-tinted revenue estimates from the state’s chief executive, put West Virginia’s financial future in a precarious position. For the last three years state revenues have had massive shortfalls and in January, we were $28 million in the red. Hardworking taxpayers deserve better. They deserve a government that lives within its means. Before increasing taxpayers’ burden, lawmakers must always ensure that every tax dollar is being wisely spent.
With mere days left in the regular legislative session and many of the initial concerns of public employees having been met within the realistic confines of state revenues, the ongoing strike left many in the Mountain State wondering why their kids and grandkids were not back in school. They should be aware that students remained locked out because teachers refused to return to work, not because lawmakers wanted to fulfill their duty to all taxpayers.
Instead of caving to immense pressure from government unions to hike taxes or spend recklessly, legislative leaders in the Senate held strong. Their bold actions and grit eventually persuaded the governor and the House to join them in a principled solution — rare in government but recognizable to any West Virginia family. They agreed to cover the new costs of a teacher pay raise by cutting spending elsewhere in the budget.
As teachers in Oklahoma, Kentucky, and other states consider taking similar action, the Mountain State’s principled lawmakers have given those legislatures a blueprint to follow. Taxpayers nationwide should be grateful.
