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West Virginia Educators Remain Defiant In Second Day Of Statewide Strike

February 22, 2019 Tom Eley, Wsws.org , , ,
Efforts by the unions to declare “victory” after the tabling of the bill and to pressure strikers back to work failed to convince striking educators who remember all too well similar declarations after the unions shut down their powerful nine-day strike last year. In the year since, none of the promises made by union officials and Governor Jim Justice to address low pay, crushing health care costs and chronically underfunded schools have materialized. Having forced the unions to call a strike, teachers were determined to maintain their momentum to fight not only to defeat the reactionary state legislation, which would introduce charter schools for the first time in state history and other school privatization schemes...

West Virginia Teachers Walk Out To Oppose Charter Schools

February 20, 2019 Jerry White, Wsws.org , , , , ,
Thousands of teachers and support staff in West Virginia are walking out of schools today and descending on the state capitol in Charleston to oppose legislation that would introduce the state’s first charter schools and divert public resources and students from traditional public schools. Facing the possibility of imminent wildcat strikes, the teachers unions called the walkout for Tuesday but are scrambling to shut it down as soon as they can.

West Virginia Teachers Strike Over Retaliatory Privatization

February 20, 2019 Russell Mokhiber, Morgancountyusa.org , , ,
This year, to retaliate for that embarrassment, those same legislative leaders want to privatize state teacher jobs with charter schools and push public schools teachers to the brink. “Charter school lobbyists have run roughshod over the Capitol for the last two weeks,” Spring Mills High School teacher Jessica Salfia told This Week in Morgan County’s Russell Mokhiber. “And this morning at the hearing, we were given 70 seconds a piece to testify.” “We are seeing a push to dismantle already struggling public schools,” Salfia said.  “It’s frustrating. Teachers do the work they do because they are called to it. The pay is not good.

West Virginia Teachers Announce Another Statewide Strike

February 19, 2019 Dave Jamieson, Huffpost.com , , ,
West Virginia public school teachers plan to go on strike again Tuesday, nearly a year to the day after they began a historic walkout that inspired teacher strikes in other states. The unions representing teachers and other school personnel announced the new work stoppage Monday night at the statehouse in Charleston, as the GOP-controlled state Senate debated an education bill that teachers say would siphon money away from public schools. The legislation would grant school personnel another raise, but it would also introduce charter schools in West Virginia and create a limited number of “education savings accounts,” using public money to reimburse families for private school costs.

‘Resist Rockwool’ Holds Sit-In Of Senator Joe Manchin Office

February 15, 2019 By Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us , , , ,
Washington, DC — West Virginia residents occupied U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s office today to demand he take a position on a controversial factory under construction in the Eastern Panhandle. U.S. Capitol Police arrested eleven protesters when they blocked the doors and hallway outside the office. Forty-two residents of Jefferson County, W.Va., and surrounding areas, organizing under the name “Resist Rockwool,” traveled to Washington to demand a meeting with Senator Manchin. He had just cancelled a townhall meeting scheduled later this month at Shepherd University which was to focus on the Rockwool insulation fiber plant.

West Virginia Teachers, School Staff Vote “Overwhelmingly” To Authorize Work Action

February 13, 2019 Staff, Wsws.org , , ,
Teachers and other school workers in all 55 West Virginia counties voted last week to call a work action against a reactionary omnibus education bill moving through the legislature. Union leaders tallied the votes Saturday, February 9, announcing “overwhelming” approval for a strike or other unspecified protest. American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia (AFT-WV) President Fred Albert said that the “work action” could mean anything “from picketing at schools to work stoppages.” He also refused to give a deadline.

Mountaineer Gas Pipeline: Rockwool Foes Zero In On ‘Blood Supply’ Of Unwelcome Factory

October 26, 2018 By Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us , ,
Hundreds of people packed the room at the Shepherd University Student Center Wednesday night to deliver impassioned statements to the West Virginia Public Service Commission on a permit for a gas pipeline extension in the Eastern Panhandle. The proposed extension of the Mountaineer Gas Pipeline would cut through Jefferson County to supply a new industrial park near Charles Town. At the moment, the only customer is the Rockwool mineral wool factory, which has just begun construction under a cloud of controversy. Opponents of Rockwool are incensed that local and state governments subverted the county’s comprehensive plan, manipulated zoning codes and negotiated generous tax breaks and subsidies in secrecy.

Rockwool Fails To Report Sinkhole, Cited For Permit Violations

October 13, 2018 By Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us , ,
The West Virginia Department of Environment Protection (WVDEP) cited Danish stone wool manufacturer Rockwool for failing to report the formation of a sinkhole and other problems at a construction site in Ranson, W.Va. Rockwool’s failure to alert WVDEP of “noncompliance” with the conditions of its stormwater permit “may have endangered health or the environment,” according to the Notice of Violation from the state agency. Rockwool intends to construct a 460,000-sq. ft. factory on a 130-acre site to manufacture MMVF—often called stone wool or mineral wool—for use in insulation products and fire-resistant ceiling tiles.

Officials: W.Va. Explosion Was Along Newly Installed Natural Gas Line

June 8, 2018 Anya Litvak and Karen Kane, Post-gazette.com , ,
No injuries were reported Thursday after an explosion in a newly installed natural gas line near Moundsville, W.Va., shot flames into the sky that could be seen for miles. “Thank God nobody is hurt. Everything else can be taken care of,” said Larry Newell, 911 director for Marshall County, W.Va. His center was flooded with calls after the TransCanada gas line — on Nixon Ridge in a remote part of the area — exploded at 4:20 a.m. “Within a matter of three minutes, we received 37 911 calls,” he said. TransCanada said in a statement that the cause was unknown and that it had a crew on the scene. The company said there was “an issue” with a pipeline on its Columbia Gas Transmission system in Marshall County. “Our first priority is to protect the public and the environment. Emergency response procedures have been activated and the impacted area of pipeline has been isolated at this time,” the company said.

As Tree-Cutting Continues For The Mountain Valley Pipeline, So Do The Protests

April 17, 2018 Laurence Hammack, Roanoke.com , ,
Coffey knew, as soon as she read an urgent text from a neighbor and left work in a rush, that it was the day she had been dreading — the day that tree-cutting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline would invade her family farm on Bent Mountain. For three years, Coffey had fought the natural gas pipeline. She spoke against it at a public hearing. She marched against it at a rally on Capitol Square in Richmond. She argued against it when Mountain Valley took her to federal court, where the company obtained an easement through her property by eminent domain. On the day the tree-cutters arrived unannounced, Coffey did the only thing left within her power. She stood as close as she could to the pipeline’s right of way, marked by blue-and-white flagged stakes, and dared the men with chainsaws to keep coming.

Tree Sitters In West Virginia Aren’t Leaving; They’re Expanding

April 5, 2018 Staff, Itsgoingdown.org , ,
It’s now been one week since the monopod tree-sit was erected on a mountain road, in an attempt to stop pipeline construction. This move itself came about a month after an earlier tree-sit was made public. As the tree sits continue, residents in the surrounding area, many of which are in the middle of legal battles with MVP to keep their homes, began to rally in support of the resistance and also send up supplies. In response, police have set up a “free speech” area far away from the monopod in an attempt to cut off supplies and support, but have so far been unsuccessful in stopping the tree sit and people from mobilizing in solidarity.

First Fight For $15, Then West Virginia Teachers: Can New Playbook Rescue Labor Movement?

April 2, 2018 Max Zahn, Inthesetimes.com , , , ,
Shannon Johnson grew up with a birth defect in her throat that required multiple surgeries. Stuck in the hospital, she found solace in Disney movies. “I could get so immersed in the characters,” she said, recalling how she drew them on the walls of her bedroom. “It looked like a princess’ castle.” Johnson, 40, now works in food service at Disneyland Resort, a set of hotels next to the theme park, in Anaheim, California. She said her hourly wage is $11, the state minimum. When she leads a shift, it’s $12, she said. Her hours vary significantly from one week to the next, as does her paycheck. She eats one meal per day, often consisting of a can of tuna and celery sticks. She and her approximately 30,000 coworkers are asking for a raise, but not from Disneyland Resort. They’re counting on the residents of Anaheim. After contract negotiations with Disneyland Resort stalled, a coalition of unions submitted a city ballot measure this month that would require the resort and other large employers to pay an $18 minimum wage.

Recipe For A Red-State Revolt

March 24, 2018 Eric Kerl, Socialistworker.org , , ,
A HAINT is stalkin' the mountains--the living memory of a century of class struggle in West Virginia. Some people might have been surprised when West Virginia workers staged one of the most militant labor struggles in decades. Mostly "white" and hailing from a region branded alternatively as "Trump Country" or "Coal Country," mountaineers are often depicted as poor, racist and reactionary. But the West Virginia wildcat strike has renewed interest in the mine wars and other high points of Appalachian workers' struggles. These rich traditions, both recent and historical, are one aspect of the militancy seen in the teachers' strike. Another is the deep social crisis, underway for decades in the region, that affects every aspect of mountaineers' lives. Ecological destruction, compounded by a catastrophic public health disaster, are two important components to include in the background to the teachers' strikes.

Morgan County Had 27 Overdose Deaths From 2011 To 2015

March 23, 2018 Russell Mokhiber, Morgancountyusa.org , ,
That’s according to the Appalachian Overdose Death Mapping Tool released yesterday by the Appalachian Regional Commission and NORC at the University of Chicago. Outside of coal country, Berkeley County and Morgan County had the highest overdose death rates in West Virginia. Morgan County’s death rate was 51.1 overdose deaths per year per 100,000 population. That is twice the national overdose death rate of 20.6 deaths per year per 100,000 population and more than 50 percent higher than the Appalachian death rate of 30.6 overdose deaths per year per 100,000. Berkeley County’s death rate was 52.2 overdose deaths per year per 100,000 population. Berkeley County suffered 189 overdose deaths in the five years from 2011 to 2015. Michael Meit, co-director of the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Analysis, said that while the study covered only the years 2011 to 2015, “the 2016 numbers eclipse 2015.”

West Virginia: Peter’s Mountain Blockade Enters Into Third Week

March 22, 2018 Anonymous, It's Going Down. , ,
For 21 days, the tree sit on so-called Peter’s Mountain has been occupying a section of land preventing the Mountain Valley Pipeline from felling trees where they plan to drill beneath the Appalachian Trail. They have faced blizzards and 60 MPH winds, and been greeted with massive community support. As of today, the sitters risk extraction attempts on multiple legal grounds. On February 26th, Forest Service police informed the tree sitters that they had 21 days to remain in their sits based on federal legislation that places limits on a campsite. The forest service proceeded to enforce a closure of the easement, the access road, and 200 feet surrounding the access road. The sitters have remained strong and active in the closure. The question of jurisdiction and enforcement remains convoluted.
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