Photo: WVEA
BY DEB ESCOBAR on March 25, 2018
At its March 20 meeting, the RC 10 Board of Directors approved a motion that will donate $500 to an AFT fund that will benefit West Virginia teachers, who recently endured a two-week strike for better pay and a fix to the state's public healthcare system. If individual members would like to donate to the strike fund, they can send checks to:
AFT-WV Solidarity Fund, 1615 Washington Street East, Suite 300, Charleston WV 25311.
At the beginning of the strike on February 22, West Virginia ranked 48th in the nation for teacher salaries. West Virginia is a right-to-work state, and the Janus-like prohibition on required agency fees, plus the weakening of power to negotiate contracts, left teachers with little recourse than to engage in a more aggressive collective action. The modest pay hike (a proposed 2% for 2018, and 1% for both 2019 and 2020) would have actually resulted in a loss in salary due to the rising cost of health insurance through the state's Public Employees Insurance Agency. The PEIA has endured years of cuts to its funding. The result is that the declining health benefits, along with higher premiums, copays, and deductibles, worsened the already poor financial condition of teachers.
The 55 counties of the state were forced to close schools, giving teachers leverage and incentive for lawmakers to negotiate a fair deal. On February 27, Governor Jim Justice agreed to a 5% pay increase, but the state Senate rejected and offered 4%. Teachers continued their strike and did not go back to work until March 7 after the State Senate agreed to the 5% increase and an increase in funding for the PEIA.
WV teachers were thoughtful about the impact of their strike on the communities they serve. They packed and delivered meals for needy students and helped arrange childcare for parents before and during the strike. This resulted in increased support from the families of WV, which put pressure on legislators to resolve the conflict in a satisfactory manner.
The success of the WV action will have implications nationwide. The conditions that led to the wildcat strike are similar to what would occur if the case of Janus v. AFSCME, now before the Supreme Court, is successful for the plaintiffs. If that occurs, the prohibition on collection of mandatory dues will weaken the collective bargaining power of unions. When the hands of workers are tied for fair and productive bargaining, aggressive actions like strikes will become more common. The WV teachers had not engaged in a strike since 1990, but current conditions left them no recourse.
Teachers elsewhere in the country are enduring similar condition and noting the successful example of the WV strike. In Oklahoma, which ranked 49th in salary, teachers are planning a statewide strike. After nearly a decade without a salary increase, teachers can no longer subsist solely on their income as a teacher. An article in the New York Times reported that Oklahoma teachers were making ends meet by selling their blood plasma and also working second jobs as luggage handlers, Uber drivers or lawn care providers. Teachers are fighting a Republican-dominated government that has failed to provide funding for public schools. The lack of funds has caused approximately 20 percent of OK schools to institute a four-day school week. The conditions are causing teachers to flee the state to work in Arkansas or Texas. The state has responded to the resulting teacher shortage by issuing emergency teaching certifications to anyone with a bachelor's degree.:
Teachers in Arizona and Kentucky are also organizing for action. In Arizona, 30,000 joined an "Arizona Teachers United" Facebook page on the first day of the page's existence. Sickouts closed nine Phoenix elementary schools. In Kentucky, teachers rely completely on the state pension system since teachers in the state cannot collect Social Security benefits. The situation has worsened with over a decade of deliberate underfunding of the state pension system, leaving teachers in a precarious position for their retirement. State lawmakers also plan to force teacher retirees who go out before the age of 65 to pay more for health insurance.
UPDATE March 30, 2018
In Kentucky, many of the schools in the state's 120 counties were forced to close on Friday as teachers engaged in a "sick-out" over the passage of a bill that affected the pensions of teachers, police, and firefighters.After years of underfunding, GOP legislators called the bill "a compromise to save the state's pension." Governor Bevin is expected to sign the bill.
The legislature had previously considered a pension bill that was designated SB1, that seriously reduced pension benefits. The bill had been thought to be dead for weeks, but on Thursday the Republican-led legislature stripped another bill, SB151, of all the language relating to sewage services (its original purpose) and instead inserted changes to the state pension system. The Kentucky Education Association called it a "classic legislative bait and switch." The haste of the changes meant that lawmakers were given no time to read the 291-page bill in its entirety, no testimony was taken, no one except lawmakers saw the bill, and there was no actuarial analysis or fiscal impact statement done before voting. Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear vowed to sue over the devious circumstances that led to its passage, stating, "This is government at its worst."
SB151, unlike SB1, provides that cost of living increases for current retirees will stay the same at 1.5%, and there was no change in how long it takes to earn retirement eligibility. The new bill, however, will limit the number of unused sick days that can be put towards calculations of pension benefits. This means that no sick leave accrued after 12/31/2018 will be credited towards pension benefits. In addition, the legislation moved future teachers into a hybrid plan that is a blend of a traditional pension and a 401k. Teachers fear this will impact the recruitment of teachers in Kentucky, leaving the state's public schools at a disadvantage. In addition, since in the 1950's Kentucky chose not to participate in Social Security for their public employees, the implications of changes and underfunding of the state pension plan has a huge impact.
There has not been a teacher strike in Kentucky since 1970 because Kentucky State law now forbids public employees from engaging in strikes, but this did not deter Kentucky teachers from engaging in the mass sick-out. However, the timing of the action on a Friday before a break meant that students who rely on the "Blessings in a Backpack" program for food taken home on weekends and breaks would not be able to pick up their backpacks. Taking a page from the West Virginia teachers, Jefferson County teachers organized and delivered food to their needy students on Friday.
Kentucky teachers have "had enough." You can find out more about their movement by searching #120 strong on social media.