UE Local 170 has been making news in West Virginia and nationally, and in the words of one local TV station, “making waves” over the state’s double standard on pay.
The local is protesting the fact that Governor Joe Manchin is about to receive a 58 percent pay increase while withholding raises for state workers. The union’s fight on behalf of public employees was the subject of a segment on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight program on February 27.
CNN reporter Lisa Sylvester interviewed Colleen Triska, a dietary cook at a state mental hospital whose pay is just $19,000 a year. Triska is forced to rely on food stamps to help feed her family, and described her youngest daughter having to wear shoes with a loose, flopping sole to school for a month because she could not afford to replace them. The starting salary for West Virginia state workers is just $16,000, said CNN, below the poverty line for a family of three.
UE member Jay Miser, also interviewed by CNN, said Manchin has advised state workers to be “frugal in our shopping. You can’t get any more frugal than shopping at Goodwill.”
But just when Manchin’s annual salary is about to jump from $95,000 to $150,000 , the CNN reporter noted, “the governor announced that there would be no wage increase for teachers and other state employees in 2009,” although he did hint that if there is a surplus at the end of the fiscal year, the left-over money might be shared with state workers. CNN’s substitute anchor Kitty Pilgrim commented that in today’s economy, that was unlikely. CNN ended its report by pointing out that UE is fighting for collective bargaining for state workers, so they can negotiate over their wages.
Three days after the CNN segment, Charleston CBS affiliate WOWK Channel 13 ran a follow-up story in which the governor responded to UE, and leaders of two other labor organizations took his side. Manchin claimed he has given more raises than any other governor in years. But UE Local 170 Vice President Nona Ringler explained why rank-and-file workers find his pay increase from $95,000 to $150,000 offensive. “It’s hard times right now and $95,000 – a lot of people can live off of $95,000 a year, especially our governor who doesn’t have to pay for his housing, pay for his travel, pay for any utilities or anything like that.”