55 Strong

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A compelling first-hand chronicle of a modern-day triumph of labor organization in West Virginia.

On February 22, 2018, nearly 20,000 West Virginia teachers, bus drivers, and service personnel walked out on their jobs in solidarity. After thirteen hard days, the workers, largely women, won higher pay and better benefits. Beyond that, the strike sparked a revolution in education across the United States.

What compelled West Virginia’s education workers to strike? How did they organize? What were teachers and allies doing during the walk-out? And how was this strike connected to West Virginia’s long history of labor organization and unions?

55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike answers these questions and offers unique, on-the-ground insights into this historic labor stoppage. The book includes essays by teachers from around the state, images from the picket lines, organizing documents, and material on the history of the labor movement in West Virginia. Edited by Jessica Salfia, a West Virginia public school teacher, Emily Hilliard, a West Virginia-based folklorist, and Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia and Pure America.

A necessary and urgent rallying cry for anyone interested in the future of organized labor in America.