Thanks to blogger G.F. Brandenburg for this story.
The teachers of West Virginia are threatening a statewide strike over pay and healthcare costs.
When was the last time that teachers across an entire state went out on strike?
“The work action is a last message to legislators at the Capitol “to do your jobs, or we’ll vote you out,” said Christine Campbell, president of the West Virginia American Federation of Teachers.
“Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive vice president of the national AFT, and Becky Pringle, vice president of the National Education Association, came to West Virginia for the rally. They expressed to all the teachers that they were setting examples for their colleagues across the country.
“Teacher shortages, all these problems, are a national crisis. West Virginia educators are showing the ways to address that,” Ricker said. “The courage shown here in West Virginia is inspiring others, these teachers are leading the way.”
“In addition to Lee, Campbell, Ricker and Pringle, speakers at the rally included Joe White, executive director of West Virginia School Service Personnel Association; Greg Baker, president of the West Virginia Trooper Association; Josh Sword, president of West Virginia AFL-CIO; Ken Hall, president of West Virginia’s Teamster chapter; Levi Allen, secretary-treasurer of United Mine Workers of America and several West Virginia teachers and school employees, who shared stories about the difficulties they’ve faced with rising health care costs and minimal pay increases.
“While the upcoming work stoppage will only affect teachers and school personnel, leaders said it was important to show solidarity and impress on legislators that there was a strong support system standing behind those in education.
“Solidarity is the foundation of our country, the foundation of unions and the foundation of our freedom,” Allen said. “You’ve stood with us [in the past] and we’re here today to stand with you.””
Politico Morning Edition reports:
”WEST VIRGINIA TEACHERS, THREATENING STRIKE, SET TO WALK OUT THIS WEEK: Teachers and school personnel across West Virginia are planning to walk out on Thursday and Friday as tensions remain high over pay and benefits. The statewide walkout would be the first in the state’s history, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Rank-and-file members of West Virginia’s two main unions, AFT-West Virginia and the West Virginia Education Association, have given leaders in both unions authority to call a strike, which would be the first statewide teacher strike in West Virginia since 1990.
“- Union leaders are continuing discussions with state lawmakers to work out a solution, Christine Campbell, the president of the AFT in West Virginia, told Morning Education. She said teachers in the state haven’t had a pay increase since 2014, and during this period health care costs have risen, along with the cost of living. Campbell noted that the state’s teachers are among the lowest paid nationally, and she said the problems have been building for years.
– “That kind of pay raise is not going to get us out of 48th or 49th place,” Campbell said, explaining why teachers aren’t satisfied with proposals on the table. Campbell said states bordering West Virginia pay teachers $5,000 to $20,000 more on average, which has led to more than 700 teacher vacancies in the state. “People can’t afford to stay here. They are crossing into bordering states because that’s the only way they can make a living wage.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The completely agnostic and rigorously non-political ed reform “movement” sure spend a lot of time lobbying against labor unions- both public sector and private sector:
“The percentage of charter schools represented by a teachers union decreased slightly over the past seven years, according to data released in a report that also found that more than 60 percent of unionized charters are located in just four states.
The report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a pro-charter advocacy and research group, found that 11.3 percent of the nation’s charters in the 2016–17 school year were unionized, down from 12.3 percent in 2009–10. The number of unionized charter schools increased by nearly one-third over that time, from 604 to 781, but the number of all charters rose by 41 percent.”
I don’t mind that they’re anti-union activists. I mind that they deny it.
Just own your “movement”. It’s backed by some of the wealthiest families and far Right political hacks in the country, it offers absolutely no benefit to the 90% of families with children in traditional public schools, and it’s is VEHEMENTLY anti-labor.
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This is excellent
Economists don’t know crap about education
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/02/20/economists-dont-know-crap-about-education
Or even about economics, if their abject failure as a group to see the financial meltdown of 07/08 coming is any indication.
Sadly, economists also believe they are experts on climate science as well.
But the reality is they don’t know anything about science. They don’t even understand how science works.
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This is a great article that puts economists in their place, and it’s about time. Singer makes some memorable statements:
“Education isn’t a transaction — it’s a transformation. Every human interaction isn’t reducible to a monetary transaction.”
Any teacher that has witnessed the transformation of students understands that education is not about “signaling.” Maybe education for know-it-all economists that naively believe they have a monopoly on the truth is a waste, but I never found teaching ESL in the US a waste. It was an essential, and it was the only way forward for these young people.
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Transformation is a very good description because it invokes an image of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.
Economists are obsessed with “growth”, which is undoubtedly why they don’t understand education.
Education is about development, not growth.
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