Senate Education Chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, speaking on the floor on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. Three years to the day since teachers and school service personnel in West Virginia went on strike calling for better pay and benefits, the state Senate has passed a bill making it clear that walking off the job is illegal for public employees. Senate Bill 11 would codify a 1990 decision from the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals that stated work stoppages and strikes by public employees are illegal. The legal opinion did little to curb teacher strikes in two recent consecutive years — ...