By: Ryan Quinn, Education Reporter | Posted: Feb. 14, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
Ruffner Elementary School teachers Diana Bailey (left) and Krystal McConihay attend a January teachers’ rally in the Capitol Rotunda. KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail file photo
Public school employees in at least three more counties, Lincoln, Clay and Mason, are joining those in Cabell and Wayne counties Friday in shutting down their schools and protesting in the state Capitol.
School workers in Logan, Mingo and Wyoming counties, and possibly other Southern West Virginia counties, already shut down their schools on Feb. 2, and instead rallied at the Statehouse.
And discussion continues of a possible statewide school employees strike, which state and county National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers union leaders say they have broad support for from most school workers across the state
But unions haven’t publicized county by county vote totals for the possible statewide strike. That statewide action has been left up to state leaders to decide if and when to trigger it.
Sam Nibert, president of Mason County’s AFT arm, said of the Friday work stoppage that “We’ve got to make the noise to see if we can get somewhere on the bargaining table that we can work with.”
He said Mason school employees voted Monday through Wednesday of last week to approve the one-day work stoppage. The percentage of employees who voted was in the 80-89 percent range, and 80-89 percent of those voted for the work stoppage, he said.
Nibert, an agriculture teacher at the county’s career center, said most Mason employees will head to Charleston Friday and be in the Capitol’s Rotunda by 9 a.m., “and we’re going to make some noise.”
He said pay increases and Public Employees Insurance Agency health insurance premiums are Mason employees’ main concerns, and said they aren’t satisfied with Gov. Jim Justice’s proposal to freeze premiums and other aspects of PEIA benefits for next fiscal year as they currently exist.
“The people want to fix it where it’s [frozen for] three years, five years, and move on,” he said.
Justin Altizer, president of Lincoln County’s AFT branch and a music teacher at Guyan Valley Middle, said health coverage is the main concern among the employees in his county. He said years ago good coverage was given to workers in lieu of pay increases.
“It’s been slowly and slowly taken away while premiums are going up and it’s hurting people,” Altizer said. He said Lincoln workers also weren’t satisfied with the governor’s proposed freeze.
“We need something that’s guaranteed long-term because we’ll be back in the same place again, we’ll be going back through the same thing,” Altizer said. “So we need a revenue that will fund it and support it so it’s not where we’re back to them begging for them to do what’s right.”
He said Lincoln employees will try to be in the Upper Rotunda of the Capitol at 9 a.m. Friday.
He said school employees voted recently for the walkout, with a vote among service personnel, organized by the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association, resulting in 90 percent in favor, and a later vote among mostly professional employees like teachers, but also some service personnel, resulting in 82 percent of those in favor.
Altizer said he didn’t know what percentage of total school employees in his county took part in the vote. He said all employees, whether they were part of a union or association or not, were allowed to vote.
“As a state we’re moving forward as being united, we want all benefits to be given to all state employees,” he said. “It’s not just for teachers, it’s for everyone: state troopers, state road [workers], because all those folks have PEIA insurance and they matter, too. We all matter, so we’re basically the voices for them to make sure they’re heard as well.”
Also, Amber McCoy, president of Wayne County’s chapter of the National Education Association, confirmed Wednesday that Wayne’s work stoppage will also be Friday. She said the plan is to meet at the University of Charleston’s Laidley Field at 9 a.m. and then walk to the Capitol to assemble in the Upper Rotunda.
She previously told the Gazette-Mail that Wayne school employees had voted for a work stoppage, but didn’t immediately reveal when it would be.
Late Wednesday, Brittany Dolly, president of Clay County’s AFT branch, said Clay County school employees also would participate in Friday’s work stoppage. Dolly, who teaches sixth grade social studies as Clay Middle, said about 87 percent of school employees voted and that 75 percent of them voted in favor of the work stoppage.
