The WV teachers' strike began February 23, 2018, and lasted until March 7, 2018. It involved about 20,000 teachers and other education workers, and resulted in a shutdown of schools in all 55 state counties. The media focused on the issues of low pay and high costs, but there were other key demands: rejecting the expansion of charter schools, refusing to accept elimination of seniority, and scuttling a bill aimed at taking away unions’ right to automatic payroll deduction and collection of dues.