West Virginia teachers' strike enters 2nd week over pay
Teachers in the US state of West Virginia plan to continue their two-week-long strike and protests until state lawmakers agree to give them a 5 percent raise that was agreed last month.
Unions representing West Virginia teachers and service personnel say they will stay out on strike after the state’s legislature voted to cut the 5 percent pay raise they had negotiated with Governor Jim Justice.
More than 277,000 students have been out of school since February 22, as teachers and other school employees pushed for higher pay, protesting that their wages are among the lowest in the United States.
Last week, the governor promised a 5 percent increase, a move later supported by the Republican-controlled House of Delegates. But the Republican-controlled Senate balked at that plan, offering a 4 percent raise instead.
“We’re asking that all public schools in West Virginia be closed again Monday and remain closed until the senate honors the agreement that was made,” said Dale Lee, the president of the West Virginia Education Association.
“They believed that we were bluffing when we said we would hold their feet to the fire,” Lee said, while calling for the strike to continue.
Media reports said that the other unions, the Federation of Teachers-West Virginia and the School Service Personnel Association, also called for schools to remain closed.
In a tweet on Saturday, Governor Justice said: “We’ve got to our kids back to school. It’s time to quit playing politics.”
West Virginia ranked 48th among the 50 states in average teacher’s salary in 2016, at $45,622, according to National Education Association data.
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