by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
Cooks, bus drivers and custodians of the Sartell-St. Stephen School District announced Dec. 9 they are ready to call a strike because of frustrating labor-contract negotiations.
All of the 83 employees are members of Service Employees International Union Local 284. They include custodians, grounds workers, food service, and bus and van drivers for Sartell’s five schools.
They have been working under the terms of a contract that expired on July 1 of last year. Since then, they and the district have had six negotiation sessions and three mediation sessions. Although the workers voted Dec. 9 to approve a strike, no date has been set for one, and they will have to give the district a 10-day notice before a strike.
In a news release, Karen Klein, who has been a cook for the district for 13 years, stated this:
“Our students deserve the best experience possible, and that means the people who work in the schools need to know we are valued and that our work matters. I am proud of the work I do, making healthy meals for students, but right now the district only seems to care about taking care of those higher up. Without a bus driver or custodian or cook, the school simply wouldn’t run. We don’t feel like they value us at all. They will save money any way they can, even if that means hurting people who work in the school and live in the community. When they treat us like this, it shows they aren’t valuing the school, families, students and the community.”
Klein then challenged district negotiators to bring a “realistic” proposal to the bargaining table.
In response to news of the proposed strike, Superintendent Jeff Schwiebert and Jason Nies, school-board member and labor negotiator of the school district, released this joint statement to the media:
“We have met with this diverse group many times over the last year and want to come to a settlement that benefits the workers and is a fair use of our taxpayer resources . . . The district felt our last offer was a fair increase in wages and insurance contributions and was greater in total percentage increase than the other groups we have settled with this year. We are having difficulty determining the priorities of this group but are willing to keep working to find a fair resolution.”
Jesse Paggen, who has worked as a custodian for the district for 22 years, said this:
“We aren’t doing this to be rich. We just want what is best for our families . . . Some people who do important work in our school barely make enough to pay for gas to get to and from work. When the district undervalues the people who work in the schools – cutting pay and making health-care virtually unaffordable – it impacts students . . . People love working here and rely on these jobs to survive, yet the district is looking to take more from people who work hard for very little. I hope this helps to get the district to take us seriously.”
The two sides in the labor-contract negotiations are expected to continue the mediation process.
