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

[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.