Dear Colleagues,
Congratulations on making it successfully to the end of the year!
Thanks to all the members who attended our general meeting at Forest Hills Church on Wednesday. It is a busy time of year, but 280 of you stood in unity to reject the current contract offer. Ballots are due Friday by 4. We will publish results on Monday.
Looking ahead please consider attending the STRS meeting in Columbus on June 20. This is the only meeting of the entire year that active members can attend and not miss work. Let me know if you are interested and we can arrange carpools.
Consider joining the CHTU closed Facebook page as a way to keep up with some conversations. Search for: “cleveland heights teachers union, aft local 795”
One of the things that has been bothering me lately is the action our Board members took against 23 OAPSE 102 Food Service workers. They were all laid off and the Board will privatize these food service employees. This was made easier for the Board to justify because three years ago the previous Board negotiated a contract with OAPSE that allowed privatization if these 23 employees as a group had poor average attendance. Excluding days missed that were FMLA eligible or were based on workplace injuries, these workers were held to a “no more than 5 sick day” standard. Since the total number of sick days used exceeded the 5 per-employee average, this onerous provision of their contract was enacted by the Board.
Imagine no longer being able to contribute to your public pension system and to lose your opportunity to receive a minimal pension based on the pitifully low wages you earn in your part time job. Retirement plans down the toilet.
Imagine if you were one of the food service workers who had perfect attendance and got laid off because of this average attendance calculation.
Imagine if you were an employee who became ill several times in a year, which was not FMLA eligible, and knew your illness was bringing the average up for the whole group.
Or imagine, as I imagine, that no one was monitoring the absences, coaching employees on proper use of FMLA, or giving any updates over the last 3 years on the group’s sick leave usage. I suspect that AVI, the folks who run food service, had very little interest in encouraging employees to have better attendance since they will probably reap the rewards of a new and cheaper workforce that is not unionized.
I understand the Board’s concerns regarding employee absence. I believe a satisfactory attendance record is a reasonable expectation. Sick days should only be used when you are sick or caring for someone in your family who is sick. I agree. They are not vacation days. All that said, there are times when employees have intermittent illnesses that are not FMLA eligible. If a food service worker has a cold and a runny nose, do we want that person coming to work to prepare food for our students? Some teachers slug it out and come to work with a thermos of tea and lozenges to fight off an illness, but that’s a bad idea for an employee who prepares and serves food. So perhaps food service employees’ threshold of needing to stay home benefits the greater school community.
The Board made a terrible decision. Even with BOE member, Dan Heintz challenging the need for outsourcing food service, our Board voted 4-1 to privatize and 23 Board employees lost their livelihoods. The Board had a choice and made the wrong one. Perhaps they should have insisted on better supervisors. Or perhaps they should have disciplined and terminated individuals who they could prove were abusing sick leave. I am pretty sure they did none of that. I had high hopes for this Board, but this action is a startling wake up call that they may become “bottom liners” and not interested in the welfare of their employees. One of these Board members even had our endorsement last election and another won the Northshore Federation AFL-CIO endorsement in the past. How can these Board members be aligned with labor when they chose this path?
I stand with my brothers and sisters in Labor. We will not forget.
In Union,
Ari Klein