teachers in West Virginia celebrating on Wednesday after winning a 5 percent raise for all workers, as they chanted, “Who made history? We made history!” The wildcat strike began on February 22nd and shut down every public school in the state. It was the longest teachers’ strike in West Virginia history. The governor, Jim Justice, signed the bill to raise salaries during a news conference Tuesday.
Katie Endicott talking:
Yesterday was truly one of the greatest days of my life. We were in the Capitol yesterday. I was here with a group of colleagues. And when we walked in, we fully anticipated that this fight was going to continue. We thought that we would leave, and we would come back on Wednesday to the Capitol. And when we found out that the fight was over and that we won, tears were just streaming down our faces. We were overwhelmed with emotion, because we won. We saw democracy in action. We saw the power of unity. People from all across the state were coming together, unified with one goal, with one mindset. And we achieved it, against all odds. There were so many people who said that we would never get what we wanted. There were so many people who said they would laugh us out of the Capitol. They did not laugh us out of the Capitol, because we did not leave the Capitol. And so, it was an amazing day. It’s been an amazing process to witness and to live history.
We know that this is not over. We know that this is just one moment in a much larger movement. And so, yesterday, on the way home, the talk already shifted to: What are we doing next? And so, we want to be involved. We’re going to be volunteering on campaigns. We’re going to be going door-knocking for candidates that we believe in. And we certainly do not believe that this is over. We believe that we are just starting.
Striking is actually illegal. We were never encouraged to strike. However, our unions were very supportive of us, and they told us upfront, “You could lose your job. You could lose seniority. Here’s all of the risks. But if you choose to, then we will stand beside you, and we will support you.” And we decided, almost unanimously in my county, that we were going to strike. We actually—prior to February 22nd, there were four counties in West Virginia who decided to conduct a 1-day work stoppage on February 2nd. And we believe that that was the spark that sort of set this whole process in motion.
And on that day, like I said, there were people that said, “They will laugh you out of the Capitol.” And we showed up, and there were thousands of people here. And from that point on, it continued. We warned. We told them that we were going to strike. We chanted that here on February 2nd. We said, “We will strike. We will strike.” And I do not believe that they heeded that, that they paid attention. And so, sure enough, we showed right back up on February 22nd, and we didn’t leave until all of our demands were met.
our union leaders met with our governor. I was here that night. It was a Tuesday night, I believe. I had been on a local picket line. And then I drove to Charleston and was here for—we were told there was going to be an announcement made. And at the beginning of that announcement, everyone was very positive. We thought we had won at that point. And then, when people came out and they started telling us—our union leaders and so forth, when they started coming out and telling us that the governor had agreed to a 5 percent raise and that PEIA, which is our insurance—it’s an acronym for our insurance program—when they told us that that would remain frozen, the crowd immediately started chanting, “See you tomorrow! See you tomorrow!”
The governor had agreed with union leaders that we would have a cool-off day. And so, we were not scheduled to go back to school until Thursday. Our leadership had agreed that we would go back on Thursday in good faith. But the people of West Virginia, they said, “No, we are not going to go back in good faith. You have to”—this is the line we’ve been using—”You have to sign, seal and deliver it.” And so, we were determined that we were not going back.
I went through the hallway on Wednesday during the cool-off day, and I was trying to talk to union leaders. And we were all very clear: We are not going back. We had union meetings across the state. Some people met here on the steps of the Capitol with their union members. And we voted instantly. And it was overwhelming. Everyone was coming through the Capitol, and they were saying, “What’s Mingo County doing? What’s Mason County doing? What’s Logan County doing?” And everybody was saying, “We’re not going back. We are not going to go back until they fix this.” And so, together we stood. And in spite of a tentative agreement, we said, “You can say that. You can make us promises. But you have to actually follow through. Promises alone are not enough. We want it in writing.”
Through this process, I’ve been so empowered and encouraged to see certain ways that the legislative process works. I’ve also been very discouraged at moments, because we have witnessed the ugly side of politics. And I believe that yesterday, and prior to yesterday, we witnessed that. We witnessed this divisive rhetoric that was meant to divide and vilify teachers and to take away from this monumentous victory that we have achieved. We do believe the governor, we believe our union leadership, that there is no way that Medicaid will lack any funding. It will be fully funded. And we trust our Democratic senators that—and our Republican allies that have stood with us through this process, that they would not dare take away from the children of our state.
We’re encouraged by the task force. Initially, we were very skeptical, and we were not ready to return to the classroom just on a promise. However, the executive order certainly helped calm and alleviate a lot of our fears. And so, we know that he has put it in writing. We know that this is not a short-term fix. And we know that it can’t be fixed within a couple of days. So, we wanted to know who would be on that task force. We wanted to make sure that we had representation and that there would be people on that task force that would be speaking for us and that would be our champions. And we believe that we have achieved that. And we are encouraged that there is a date set and that this will come to fruition and that there will be changes made. We do have a freeze in place right now. We did not think that the freeze was enough. But the freeze with the task force certainly helps provide hope for us that there will be a long-term fix and a solution to PEIA.
The average beginning teacher salary is $33,000 a year. And we are 48th in the nation. So, this has been a fight, of course, for insurance, but also pay, as well.
– won this 5 percent raise for teachers in West Virginia, but for all state workers
again, I talked about the ugly side of politics and the divisive rhetoric. And through this process, I believe that people were trying to win the public over, and there were a lot of people that were trying to turn teachers and educators against public employees. But from the beginning, we have been chanting “Five for all.” And so, we know that—we believe in the future of West Virginia. And we know that we deserve more than what we’re getting. And so, we believe that, you know, it’s not just teachers. It’s this state. The state has to invest into our future, and they do that by investing into us and into our children. And so, we were—we’ve been saying all along, “Five for all.” And it was beautiful, when I left the Capitol yesterday. There were public employees who were stopping on the side of the road, and they were saying, “Thank you so much. Thank you for fighting for us. We don’t believe what’s on the news. We know all along you’ve been fighting for us.” And, you know, again, Oklahoma, we’re fighting for you. The last chant that we had here was “West Virginia first! Oklahoma next!” And so, we believe that you are next, and we’re going to champion your cause.
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Katie Endicott
high school English teacher in Mingo County, West Virginia, and member of the West Virginia Education Association, one of the organizations that represented the striking teachers.
— source democracynow.org