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Republican Governor Jim Justice announced the deal after
thousands of teachers and their backers descended on the state
capitol in Charleston demanding better benefits and a hike in
wages now near the bottom among U.S. teachers.
The proposal calls for teachers to get a 5 percent raise in the
fiscal year starting in July and other state employees to get a
3 percent hike, Justice told a news conference. The deal
requires approval by the Republican-controlled legislature.
"All of it works," said Justice, who had spent much of the day
in talks with union leaders. Students will be back in class on
Thursday after a "cooling-off" on Wednesday, he said.
Justice said he would appoint a task force to look into the
Public Employees Insurance Agency, which runs health programs
for public workers. He suggested that a $20 million investment
to stabilize the agency could come through an increase in
severance taxes on coal and natural gas.
Justice said the raises could be paid for by boosting state
revenue estimates by $58 million, based on the impact of federal
tax cuts and an improved U.S. economy.
“This is the beginning of better things to happen,” Christine
Campbell, president of the West Virginia Federation of
Teachers-West Virginia, was quoted as saying by the MetroNews
website.
Teachers walked out on Thursday after Justice signed legislation
to give teachers and state police a 2 percent raise. Teachers
were also expected to get 1 percent increases in each of the
next two fiscal years.
West Virginia ranked 48th among the 50 states in average
teacher's salary in 2016, at $45,622, according to National
Education Association data.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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