Posts tagged Custodians
Struggling to ‘bring food to our families,’ Olathe schools hourly workers want a union Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article286587730.html#storylink=cpy
March 14, 2024 // Arellano was among more than 70 custodians, paraprofessionals and other hourly workers who packed Thursday’s school board meeting, wearing red, “Union Power” T-shirts. The group of employees, who are not certified so cannot join the teachers union, said they are organizing to form their own union, to advocate for better pay, respect and working conditions. If successful, it would be the first union of its kind in a Johnson County school district. Hourly workers have formed unions in other large Kansas districts, in Lawrence and Wichita. The union, Olathe School Workers United, would be a part of Communications Workers of America, Local 6400, which organized workers in the Lawrence district.
VIDEO: Union boss punched in the face after annoying siren deployed during protest
March 12, 2024 // A fight broke out on a picket line last week in front of a downtown federal office building when striking custodians accused a woman of punching a union leader. The altercation happened in front of a federal government office building at 630 Sansome St., where janitors employed there have been on strike since last week. The custodians, who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 87, said the skirmish took place around 7 p.m. on Wednesday after the woman, an employee who works in the building, came out and confronted the striking janitors for playing a loud siren from a bullhorn.
‘This is not normal’: Other unions within Portland Public Schools continue to negotiate for a new contract, weeks after teachers reached an agreement
December 12, 2023 // SEIU isn’t the only union still bargaining. Portland Federation of School Professionals (PFSP), which represents paraeducators and others, is also bargaining with Portland Public. Union members have twice rejected a tentative agreement. Since then, the union president has stepped down and two new bargaining members joined negotiations.
Three California State University unions reach labor agreements. What raises did they win?
October 13, 2023 // Starting Oct. 1, 2025, the union would move to a new 20-step merit system where salaries are determined based on the years of service an employee has completed. Each step up comes with a 2% raise. CSUEU staff indicated that each employee’s raise in the third year would vary greatly depending on how far behind their salary step they currently are. “This tentative agreement establishes an equitable salary structure with steps, which will help address the University’s recruitment and retention crisis,” wrote Catherine Hutchinson, CSUEU president, in a statement Thursday afternoon. “Pending ratification, we believe this agreement raises the bar and paves the way for our other union siblings across the system.”
‘It feels like it’s strike summer’: US unions flex muscles across industries
July 31, 2023 // “In the wake of the Patco strike, companies saw strikes as opportunities to weaken unions or even break them. That’s not the case today. Today there’s no fear that calling a strike will result in disaster,” said Lichtenstein. “Today there’s a sense that unions are on the offensive,” Lichtenstein continued. “Take the actors. They say they don’t want just a good contract. They want a transformative contract.”
After Yearlong Wait, Bates Unionization Vote Fails
March 29, 2023 // They had lost, 186 to 254, all the way back in January 2022. William A. Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, said in an email Friday that “A vote against representation by faculty, other professionals and/or staff in higher education has been rare over the past decade.”
400,000 Los Angeles Students Missed School As Union Employees Launch 3-Day Strike Demanding Better Wages, Benefits
March 22, 2023 // Aaron Withe, CEO of Freedom Foundation, a Washington-D.C.-based think tank advocating for public employees from political exploitation, told The Daily Wire in a statement that the organization frequently hears from teachers who are sick of union politics — especially after seeing what the COVID school shutdowns have done children, he said, calling the latest strike from union officials “unconscionable.” “They just want to teach their students reading, writing, and math, Withe said, adding, “they’re fed up.”.
UNIONS’ STRIKE HURTS L.A. STUDENTS AND FAMILIES
March 20, 2023 // The unions are demanding huge pay raises despite financial reports showing LAUSD is already upside down $16.4 billion. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 is demanding a whopping 30% increase in wages for school employees like bus drivers and cafeteria workers. United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) is also joining the strike, seeking a 20% raise for teachers. “The unions strike and close down schools regardless of how much it will hurt students and their families,” said Lance Christensen, Vice President of Education Policy and Government Affairs at California Policy Center.
L.A. schools would close if union workers go on massive three-day strike, Supt. Carvalho says
March 14, 2023 // United Teachers Los Angeles, which also is in contract talks, has advised its members that they should walk out in solidarity with Local 99 to ratchet up pressure on the district. Local 99 has described the strike as an unfair labor practice charge walkout in protest of alleged illegal actions by L.A. Unified during the negotiations process. Such strikes typically last for a fixed duration and can be staged without going through all the steps of bargaining that typically precede an open-ended strike, according to the unions. The union bargaining platform is extensive, covering a range of workplace and social-justice issues, including a commitment to extra resources for Black students and affordable housing for low-income families.
Op-ed: Bringing Workers’ Sensibility to Local Government
September 26, 2022 // Electing more union members would ensure that local officials instead invest their energies in productive ways, such as building robust, worker-centered economies. Some forward-thinking local officials have used their authority to pass worker protection laws, to establish agencies for enforcing those safeguards and to create workers councils to take testimony on job-related issues, noted the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington, D.C.-based thinktank, in a recent report. At Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards, for example, a full-time equivalent staff of 34 enforces 18 worker-centered ordinances, including those requiring paid sick time, employment opportunity and protections for gig workers.