By David Cruz
Correspondent
There were barricades up in front of the offices of the Newark Board of Education headquarters, an apt symbol, say union members, who gathered across the street to demonstrate and call for school management to come to the table and hammer out an agreement. These non-instructional workers say they’ve been without a contract for five years.
“I’m a food service worker. I work in the cafeteria. In one pay period I may bring home $285, and in the other I bring home $313,” said food service worker Teresa Tucker. “How am I supposed to pay rent on that?”
Custodial worker and Local 617 Vice President Lorenzo Hall said he and his colleagues do the tough jobs outside of the classroom that most people don’t see. “We work out in the rain; we work out in the heat; we work in the hot buildings; in cold buildings. We lift. We do heavy lifting. We work hard every day,” he said.
With salaries for food service and custodial workers averaging under $30,000, the union says management’s latest offer, made, they say, on the final day of a state-imposed deadline, was for employees to come to work an additional 20 days, without additional pay.
The school district disputes that claim. They say they’ve offered summer employment to a handful of senior food service staff, with pay, in order to feed city kids during summer programs. In a statement released this afternoon, Vanessa Rodriguez, the district’s chief talent officer, said, “NPS is currently in the midst of negotiations with SEIU, and we are optimistic that we can come to agreeable terms that will be beneficial to both parties.”
Sen. Teresa Ruiz said the district’s most recent offer is an example of the disrespect it has shown to its unionized workers.
“We’re in fiscal distress across the board when you talk about any level of government or entity,” she said, “so obviously there are budgets that need to be tightened; you don’t do it at the expense of the lowest paid workers.”
The district says the union wants it to pay for 40 percent of union leadership salaries when they’re doing union business on school time, a benefit they say no other district in the state offers. The lawmakers here say they have tried to bring the sides together but are getting radio silence.
The union says they’ve been getting a similar cold shoulder and when they do manage to communicate, neither side seems to be hearing what the other has to say.