On weekdays, Rebecca Diamond teaches second grade at Kellogg Elementary School in Wayne County, West Virginia. If the teachers and other public employees go on strike Thursday and Friday as expected, it will be the first statewide work stoppage to hit West Virginia schools in nearly 30 years. They are hoping to send a strong message to the state legislature, which hasn’t funded the public employees’ health care program enough to curb rising premiums. The last across-the-board raise for teachers and other public employees came in 2014. The state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, proposed a 1 percent general increase in teacher pay each year for five years, a plan passed by the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Source: Huffington Post February 20, 2018 22:30 UTC