WV Teachers 8 Day Strike, Labor Struggles in WV From Coal Miners to Teachers: Democracy Now!

[appalachiablue]

March 5, 2018, Democracy Now! News

Today's DN! Program is airing in-depth coverage of the Teachers Strike in West Virginia that is expanding to other education employees and states like Oklahoma. Universities in Britain have also been advocating for better conditions. Issues at stake involve stagnant pay and salary, reduced benefits, and general erosion of support for education. The movement is gaining wide community support from educators, students, parents, churches, the general public and more.

Guests interviewed are WV teachers, national education leaders, British professors and other activists.
A special focus on the state of West Virginia's long, one hundred year history of fighting for workers and labor rights, especially in the coal mining industry is included.

>Follow HERE, or online at democracynow.org, on FSTV- Free Speech TV Channel & some Public TV stations.

- "PEOPLE HAVE JUST HAD ENOUGH": WEST VIRGINA TEACHERS CONTINUE HISTORIC STRIKE INTO EIGHTH DAY"

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/5/people_have_just_had_enough_west

- "FROM COAL MINERS TO TEACHERS: WEST VIRGINIA CONTINUES TO LEAD RADICAL LABOR STRUGGLE IN THE US"

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/5/from_coal_miners_to_teachers_west

[Staph]

1. Tomorrow is Day Nine.

Everyone of the 55 county school systems is closed.

#55Strong!

[appalachiablue]

4. Onward! Their determination is terrific, and inspiring other places and people.

Huzzah Mountaineers!

[Fred Sanders]

2. CBS evening news covered it for 20 seconds. Is the only issue a 4% raise offer by the

school board and teachers wanting 5%, because that is all the info provided...can't be right. Nothing else of teacher grieviences was mentioned.

The MSM might as well not bother even trying if they are only twisting facts.

[appalachiablue]

3. The fumbling over the 5% increase which was initially approved,

then retracted is the main ire and also huge increases in health ins. costs that teachers have to pay. These are primary reasons they're continuing the walk-out: demands for a Cap on health costs and the 5 percent pay increase. A couple other matters too and I don't know the status. I just contacted a friend who's an ED Dept. State Division head about specifics, what's going on and will post any news.

Public school teachers in WV haven't had a raise in years, make 5-20K less than teachers in surrounding states, and WV is ranked 48th nationally as of 2016 with only Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Dakota lower.

The beginning pay for WV teachers is $32,435 and the average salary $44,701. Public school teachers in many states are also losing ground in key areas for some time, and many districts haven't provided raises in years. A sister who was a school director in NYC, then a teacher in DC and NoVa hasn't had an increase in pay in 7 yrs.

As to coverage on MSM, not much regarding this historic effort, an 8-day Teachers Strike by ALL counties- 55 in WV. Substantial treatment on MSNBC has also been lacking so I've read, except for a segment Chris Hayes did last week which I didn't catch. That's standard for corporate broadcasting Re issues pertaining to labor, the environment and climate change, and Net Neutrality because of views held by management, and issues with profit and advertisers.

Newspaper articles and blogs have featured walk-out news; quite a no. have been posted on DU in the last 2 weeks.

[Fred Sanders]

6. What is the media beef with teachers? Seems a state wide teacher strike, same teachers

being incessantly covered as being a "solution" to mass school gun murder, would be daily news.

Maybe the teachers complaints about how the state is underfunding public schools while showering alone religions private schools is too much for them to handle? Would get too politically and such??

Where is Davos on this?? MIA?

[appalachiablue]

7. The hypocrisy and irony reek. Since the Parkland, FL school

massacre we've had extensive school news coverage particularly the idea of arming teachers to combat shooters, 'become soldiers,' another dangerous, absurd attempt to continue weapons sales, create gun training contracts in schools and above all keep up funding for the arms industry and NRA, under the guise of 'defense.'

As expected the US media has devoted far less coverage to the major WV Teachers Strike due to labor issues, notably appalling low pay and spiraling health insurance costs. Blatant measures to destroy public schools are part of years of conservative attacks on labor, unions, the commons and government as we know. Anti-democratic break down of institutions, public services, agencies and education in favor of privatization for profit, preferably with the aim of 'spreading God's Kingdom' in schools as DeVos said. Civics isn't even taught much anymore for some years now as I recently learned. The loss is obvious.

Many years and mass effort went into building the US public educational system, once the model for the world as pointed out recently in "Where to Invade Next" M. Moore's latest film. How people forget, and don't know. In my family five generations attended public schools and benefitted greatly. At least six became educators, including an ancestor from the WV coalfields who became a school teacher at age 16; a dean and an English professor at public colleges; an aunt and sister who became school teachers and myself, a public museum educator.

Note: this kind of major strike hasn't been seen in the US for decades. And since the WV strike lengthened, WV Gov. Jim Justice has been largely out of sight of late. On the DN! news program a Pa. labor journalist interviewed said educators in areas of KY and PA, esp. where Gov. Justice owns mining operations are considering similar action, along with teachers in Oklahoma. DN! also discussed British lecturers and professors at the University of Cambridge and the University of Manchester striking over pension cuts and other grievances. So we shall see. Enough IS Enough!

RE WV teacher health insurance costs: I heard that a 14 month freeze was just placed on rate increases, and a new 'task force' suggested by the Governor will review the program and decide future action by next year.

[appalachiablue]

5. West Virginia Teachers Strike Starting to Spread to Other States- OK, KY, PA

The West Virginia teachers’ strike now entering its second week appears to be inspiring the nation. It looks now like the teachers’ militancy to strike has inspired many of their students as well as teachers in other states.
How far the teachers’ strike spreads at this point is unclear. On Saturday, teachers in OKLAHOMA began holding meetings to discuss a strike and quickly garnered 40,000 fans on their Facebook page when they announced their plans for a work stoppage. “We are to the point where we have no other option,” Heather Reed, a teacher in Oklahoma City told KTUL.

Now, Payday Report has learned that teachers in neighboring states along West Virginia’s border with KENTUCKY and PENNSYLVANIA are considering striking in solidarity with the West Virginia teachers. Many of the teachers in the district along the border have faced cutbacks in no small part because of delinquent tax payments by coal barons such as West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, whose mining company owes more than $15 million in 6 different states.

The strike wave could spread even further as the teachers and their allies try to build a nationwide movement.
Next week, United Mineworkers President Cecil Roberts and several thousand coal miners and teachers from West Virginia are expected to travel fifteen minutes North across the border for a massive union rally in Waynesburg, Pa. The rally is intended as a show of support for Conor Lamb, who is in close race for the 18th district Congressional seat up for grabs March 13th.
In addition, unions and activists have organized rallies around the nation as the illegal wildcat strike appears to be enjoying mass support.

It does not appear that the strike will be resolved anytime soon as many teachers have stated that they are prepared to remain absent from work for at least another week. This weekend, Senate President Mitch Carmichael rejected a deal previously agreed upon in principle, which would have given teachers a 5% raise. Instead, the Senate passed a deal giving teachers a 4% raise. This led the teachers to announce they would continue their strike.
“At this point, the three organizations announce that we are out indefinitely — we will not accept the 4 percent,” said Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, speaking on behalf of the three striking unions. “Until this bill passes at 5 percent, we will be out indefinitely.”

[Reporter Mike Kell who has also worked for Politico, the NYT and the Guardian, said today on the Democracy Now! News program that a wildcat strike like the West Virginia Teachers Walk-Out hasn't been seen for decades in the US].
http://paydayreport.com/west-virginia-teachers-strike-fever-starting-spread-states/