For the first time, the capitol protest today took place on a weekend. About a thousand people were here in the morning, though it thinned out by the afternoon. Momentum remains overwhelmingly with the strikers. Everybody really wants to go back to work, but they are determined to only return once their demands are met. Morale remains high. The general perception among the public at large is (correctly) that a small group of recalcitrant Republicans is now responsible for blocking the return of West Virginia’s children to school.

There is a deep crisis in the state leadership. The strike’s demand at this point is for the legislature to pass the proposed 5 percent pay increase for teachers, service personnel, and state troopers. (Partly because of the refusal of the Republican legislature to accept this, the question of PEIA, public employee health insurance, has been put on the backburner.) The governor and the House under pressure accepted the raise a few days ago, but the Republican-dominated senate finance committee blocked this today.

At their late afternoon meeting, they stuck to their insistence on a 4 percent raise, which everybody knows will not be accepted by the strikers. The committee decision was seen by teachers as a slap in the face. In short, there’s no resolution to anything.