After picketing through wind and rain without pay, LAUSD’s service workers have a much easier task this week: voting on whether to ratify their historic new labor contract agreement.
The agreement was reached on March 24, following a three-day strike that shut down classes for 420,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The new contract applies to members of SEIU Local 99, representing 30,000 cafeteria workers, bus drivers, instructional aides, custodians and special education assistants.
Labor leaders expect the agreement to sail through with its promises of an average 30% pay raise over time, healthcare benefits for members who work four or more hours a day, and extra hours for special education assistants. The vote is taking place in person and online from April 3 to April 7, with results announced April 8. Assuming it is ratified, the LAUSD School Board will vote on it at its April 18 meeting.
Day 1 of Voting on our historic LAUSD Tentative Agreement! Voting will take place in-person and online from April 3 – 7. SEIU Local 99 members must vote on the agreement in order for it to be ratified. #99Strong pic.twitter.com/QLHkHrVcrR
— SEIU Local 99 (@SEIULocal99) April 3, 2023
“When we heard that they reached an agreement there was so much pride and joy on everyone’s faces,” said Fatima Grayson, a special education assistant. “I walked into the cafeteria and the (food service) women were smiling. They were making $16.91 an hour and now they’re going to be making $22.52. That’s a huge, huge difference.”
The agreement will likewise be game-changing for Grayson, who has worked with the district for 24 years and has struggled to make ends meet for herself and her daughter.
“The money is definitely essential. It’s going to help me sleep at night,” said Grayson. “Currently, I get a paycheck, I pay the bills that I can and possibly hold on to $200 to put gas in the tank to make it to work for another two weeks, and within those two weeks I’m worried about ‘Oh my god, I wasn’t able to pay this bill’.”
SEIU Local 99 represents some of the lowest paid workers in LAUSD. Their average salary is just $25,000 and many work part-time hours.
The low pay is one reason why SEIU members have not given up their pay to go on strike since 1969, said Executive Director Max Arias in a recent interview. But poor working conditions pushed members to a breaking point, he said.
“We just reached the point where we didn’t have a choice,” said Jennifer Torres, a special education assistant. “We would go to meetings and members were talking about ‘Hey, you know what, I’m living on the street,’ or ‘I’ve just got my power cut off,’ or ‘I’m getting evicted’.”
SEIU members who earn the district’s minimum wage of $16.91 will see the biggest immediate impact once the contract is ratified, as their wages will jump by 33% to $22.52 an hour. Remaining workers will see an immediate 13% pay raise after ratification.
All workers will then receive another 7% increase starting July 1 and a further $2 an hour bump starting Jan. 1, 2023. On top of that, employees who worked during the 2020 to 2021 school year will receive a $1,000 one-time bonus in recognition of sacrifices they made during the pandemic.
For Torres, this money will help support her children’s college education and lessen the burden placed on her husband, who has been putting in work days as long as twelve hours.
“We really do rely on his paycheck, but I also stress because I put too much pressure on him to carry the household financially,” said Torres, holding back tears.
As a special education assistant with almost two decades of experience with the district, she said it pains her to be undervalued for her labor. She is also sad to see how hard it is for LAUSD to retain special education assistants under current working conditions.
“Who wants to get paid $25.75 an hour and get a chair thrown at you, get cussed at, have to change diapers, have to deal with physical abuse sometimes from some of the students because they have a disability (and) don’t know right from wrong?” she said.
A key contract win for Torres was the addition of an hour per day for special education assistants. With the current six-hour day, she frequently found herself completing work outside of her paid hours.
“Those six hours are not enough for what we do,” she said. “There is no downtime for us, there is no kickback. Once I clock in, it’s go, go, go until I clock out.”
Ideally, she wants to see hours increased to eight per day, so special education assistants can support students in after school programs and assist teachers planning classes for students with special needs. She also wants the district to invest more in training special education assistants, to improve retention.
Better training and more hours for staff are also demands that Arias wants in the next labor contract agreement.
Because the current contract was delayed by the pandemic, labor leaders will begin bargaining for a fresh contract next year.
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In addition, Arias wants the district to commit to fully staff all campuses and to decrease the number of “unassigned” days — roughly 15 days in the academic calendar when schools are closed to students and SEIU members don’t get paid. These days typically fall on religious holidays when student absences are often high. But those unpaid days can be a painful loss for workers who struggle to pay their bills.
Arias is excited about the contract ratification vote and even more so about the prospect of a better agreement in the future.
“This vote is not just an expression of what we want, but an expression of the fact that we’re ready to keep going to improve the conditions,” he said.
This thought was echoed by Torres, who is encouraging all of her fellow staff members to vote on the contract this week.
“I’m hoping that everybody votes yes on this, because I think this needs to be our foundation,” she said. “And, next year in October 2024, when we start bargaining again, we need to build on this. For the things (demands) we missed on this one, we need to fight for them in the next one.”