Oklahoma state workers weighing walkout for better salaries

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A group representing Oklahoma state employees says they are considering joining the state’s teachers in walking off the job if the Legislature doesn’t give them a pay raise.
Oklahoma Public Employees Association director Sterling Zearley said Friday that state agency employees are considering a work stoppage because of low salaries and budget cuts.
Zearley’s comments came one day after the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest teacher’s organization, announced plans for a work stoppage April 2 if lawmakers don’t approve a $6,000 pay raise by April 1.
OPEA has endorsed a measure calling for a $71 million state employee pay raise this year, but the legislation was not heard in a legislative committee and it isn’t being considered.
Neither teachers nor state workers have received across-the-board pay raises since 2008.