Healthcare drives teachers to strike in West Virginia

For seven straight school days, a massive teachers strike has gripped every county in West Virginia, with educators setting up picket lines on public roads and thronging the Capitol.

And with state lawmakers unable to reach a deal on a compensation package Friday, the strike is likely to extend into next week, raising the stakes on all sides to resolve an unpredictable work stoppage that leaves thousands of children at home each day.

The teachers, as public employees, technically have no right to strike in West Virginia, according to state Supreme Court precedent, and the state’s attorney general has called the walkouts “unlawful.”

But the educators said they had been driven to the brink by low pay that had left many of them seeking second jobs or other careers, or other states, entirely.

The militancy of the rank and file has surprised state lawmakers and even the teachers’ own union leaders, who went behind closed doors this week to make a deal to raise pay by 5% — only to see teachers reject the deal and vote to continue their walkouts.

At the heart of the matter, teachers say, isn’t their salaries. It’s their soaring healthcare costs.

“We’ve seen [people say] teachers are not happy with the 5% increase — that’s not it at all,” said Mary Clark, 49, a fifth-grade teacher in Monongalia County. “That’s not what kept us out. It’s the insurance. That’s the big deal.”

In West Virginia, teachers and other state employees receive health coverage through the Public Employees Insurance Agency, or PEIA.

The state program is funded 80% by employers and 20% by employees. That means as healthcare costs continue to rise, the program’s long-term solvency requires “significant revenue increases in employer and employee premiums” over the next five years, according to a 2017 financial report prepared for PEIA.

In other words, employees are going to need to pay up. “They are wanting to raise our rates,” Clark said.

But there’s a problem with that: After teaching for over 10 years, “I’ve not seen [my take-home pay] go up any at all,” not even counting inflation, Clark said. If her healthcare costs increase, “that’s not feasible.”

Daniel Summers, 35, a high school business and English teacher in Monongalia County, has two young children who require child care, he said, and “we’re looking at some of our premiums potentially doubling next year.”

Summers, who has a master’s degree and other education credits, normally qualifies for raises of about $600 to $700 a year, he said. But he’s now looking at his insurance increasing by about $300 — per month.

“While having a $700 increase sounds lovely, that would only cover about a month and a half of my PEIA insurance, and we’re still talking about wages that I’m bringing in, with student debt, and a master’s degree, below $45,000 year,” Summers said.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed an executive order Wednesday establishing a task force to study PEIA’s funding.

The state’s House of Representatives passed the pay-raise bill, but the legislation has stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate, whose leaders have said they don’t want to move as rapidly as the House.

“They have their opinions on quickly moving on items that haven’t been substantiated,” said state Sen. Mitch Carmichael, the Republican president of the chamber, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

“The Senate will take a much more thoughtful, deliberate approach. Our objective is to ensure the longterm stability and viability of our PEIA insurance program.”