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9486 in the collection
Parents Support SEIU Custodians and Food Service Workers
Ohanian Comment: The outrage here is that Portland Public Schools Management, under the leadership of Cathy Mincberg, is going after the custodians, food service workers, and bus drivers with a vengeance that can only be described as union busting.
It comes as no surprise that Cathy Mincberg comes to Portland from Houston. There, she helped engineer Rod Paige's rise to superintendent in 1994 while she was on the board, later becoming a paid administrator, the district's chief of business services.
Once Paige became superintendent, he dumped the cafeteria workers and brought in Aramark. He also brought in Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, for building repairs. And so on. There was a studied policy of dumping local workers, who lived in the community, who had children in the schools, and who had a history with the schools, to bring in corporate managers.
But in Portland, parents and others are standing up and speaking out for the custodians, food service workers, and bus drivers. Read these remarks from the November 19 School Board meeting.
By Lakeitha Elliott
My name is Lakeitha Elliott. I'm a parent of a fifth grader at Vernon, a member of Vernon and Jefferson High PTA, and a SUN School Coordinator. This is Anne Trudeau; she'll be speaking on behalf of Nancy Smith, President of the Jefferson High School Parent, Teacher, Student Association. This is Lynn Schore, and she has first and fifth graders at Hayhurst.
We are here in support of our Service Employees International Union custodians and nutrition service workers. SEIU Local 503 is one of the most efficient operations in the state. Union members have ownership in our community, and after all they have suffered through, deserve fairness from PPS. They ought not be subjected to threats of pays cuts and privatization every year or two.
The unwritten bargain with the employer has always been that the best job security is to do a good job. The union has lived up to their end of that bargain: our schools are looking great. But PPS’s practice of spending our tax dollars on union-busting consultants whose advice is to slash wages by 30% will not be tolerated. If we want to keep our schools clean and our children healthy, then no cuts will be tolerated. As parents and taxpayers, we are firmly against this kind of union busting.
Over the course of many years, the union has proven it can work with administration. But PPS must pay according to job responsibilities. We know that in typical union negotiations, the District makes a low offer, the union a higher offer, and they negotiate a compromise. But PPS's opening offer of 30% wage cuts is an affront to SEIU. As PPS families, we know this will damage the conditions in our schools, and the health and safety of our students and teachers.
Union members' jobs with PPS are not merely pit stops on the way to somewhere else. Many SEIU members view and perform their work as careers, and intend to stay in these jobs throughout their working lives. SEIU members are parents of PPS students, and they are voters. They are our relatives, neighbors and friends.
One of the wonderful books used for PPS middle schoolers is The Janitor's Boy by Andrew Clements. Interestingly, the new issue of "Rethinking Schools" reviewed the book, stating:
In The Janitor's Boy, the janitor's son, Jack … discovers not only how essential janitors are to the success of a school, but how important his dad is in the lives of many troubled community members. The message is clear: the school's service workers are important people worthy of respect – at least from their own children – and perhaps the principals will learn this important lesson in a sequel."
We think our Board members should be at least as proficient as our middle schoolers in respecting the many roles of public school custodians.
by Lynn Schore:
SEIU custodians not only clean classrooms, shine floors, assist teachers, repair boilers and prevent boiler accidents. They are front line responders in the event of school evacuations, natural disasters, and terrorism threats.
PPS's own Policy states the following:
1. In the Application for Civic Use of Buildings: "Supervision: In the absence of a school administrator, the custodian has authority to enforce compliance with regulations."
2. "In the event of an emergency school evacuation, the only people to remain in the school are the principal, office staff, and custodians, who must check every room in the building."
3. "Volunteers must contact school custodians immediately if they encounter any of the following: suspicious devices such as pipes, tennis balls and sealed plastic pop bottles wrapped with duct tape."
Thus custodians may stand in for administrators, and they are our children's first line of defense in the event of a bomb on school grounds. Custodians also perform flood control; asbestos abatement; mold abatement; insect control; unblock school roof drains, field and parking lot drains; carry heavy items for parents; and restart our vehicles in parking lots. They walk female teachers to their cars at night, keeping them safe.
Our custodians routinely deal with vomit, feces, urine, blood, and saliva, and some time syringes, prophylactics, and drug paraphernalia --- all of which can contain blood-borne pathogens and pose serious health risks to our children and staff. They perform these tasks safely, with kindness toward our students.
In addition, recent local and national articles regarding the MRSA staph infection should be a reminder that we need qualified employees to keep our children healthy.
Along with maintaining clean environments, nutrition workers and custodians give guidance to students. After school, custodians know where students need to be. They volunteer at extra-curricular events. Along with regular duties, nutrition workers help students with allergies and food issues, and know when a kind word is needed.
PPS parents know they can trust union employees who've been at the school year after year. Probably most people in this room can remember the names of their school custodian and lunch lady. I know I can, right back to kindergarten. All SEIU employees demonstrate to children what it is to come to work on time every day, take pride in your work, and create a safe atmosphere for a community.
There are City plans to use neighborhood schools as disaster relief centers in the event of emergency, as was done in New Orleans. Our custodians would be essential in keeping the physical plants running during disaster response. But PPS, you have to PAY people to take those risks, and to be there for these worst-case scenarios.
by Anne Trudeau:
My name is Anne Trudeau, and I'm speaking for Nancy Smith, who couldn't be here. She is the President of the Jefferson PTSA.
Parents want skilled, experienced food service workers and custodians, and want them paid appropriately. The District’s proposed pay cut is anti-worker, and would damage the effort to keep living wage jobs in Portland in general. Lower wages mean higher turnover, resulting in custodians who don't develop relationships with students, teachers and staff. There's no conflict between paying a solid living wage and having an effective operation -- in fact, those go hand in hand.
The expected 10.5 million savings by illegally firing union workers actually cost us, the taxpayers, 14.5 million. It also cost us in ways NOT accounted for: SEIU members lost mortgages and homes, and the resulting stress destroyed marriages, caused suicides, ruined college opportunities for custodians' kids – and it caused more hazardous schools.
Martin Luther King in his last speech was speaking in front of sanitation workers who were on strike in Memphis. And he said: "Let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers." I think that could apply here too.
Therefore, we ask that rather than even considering a pay cut, you give union members at least a 3% cost of living increase -- anything less means our workers are losing ground.
The Board will soon be asking Portland residents to invest in a capital bond, citing under-maintained schools as a reason. However, PPS fired the very staff that maintained our buildings, and now seeks to cut their salary by 30%. This doesn't make any sense! Portland residents rightfully expect their investments, old and new alike, to be properly protected and maintained!
Any cut you make to SEIU workers will leave our schools less safe, less clean, less healthy, and less supervised. Then we all lose. If the District wants “safe and civil” schools, the District must demonstrate “safe and civil” actions, starting now, starting from the top.
SEIU workers are part of our PPS family. They support the Board by serving as the thread of the social fabric in our schools. Rather than ripping apart this fabric that keeps our family together, let’s be civil. Give our SEIU workers a well-deserved, respectable contract, one that provides good salaries and benefits. The result will be “safe” schools for every child and every worker throughout our district!
Thank you.
— Lakeitha Elliott, Lynn Schore, and Ann Trudeau
speeches
2007-11-19
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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