The Service Employees International Union Local 1021 (SEIU) and the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), will vote to go on strike due to what they call unfair labor practices by their employer, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).
UESF will vote on Oct. 11, leading to a possible second vote in late October to authorize a strike. An overwhelming 99.5 percent of SEIU 1021 members voted in favor of authorizing a strike against SFUSD on Oct. 3. The union represents about 900 custodial, clerical and other employees in San Francisco public schools. Roughly 16 to 25 percent of SFUSD classified workers make less than their counterparts.
The strike vote authorizes the union bargaining team to declare a strike during contract negotiations with the school district. It will also put pressure on the district’s representatives to agree on an improved contract.
Rafael Picazo, SEIU’s chapter president, said there has not been an agreement since its contract expired in 2020 and they are working without a contract.
“What we’re stuck on is economics because members in our union are the lowest paid in the school district, as well as, health care issues and site staffing,” Picazo said in a phone call. “It’s hard for the school district to hold on to talented workers because when they come in and transfer out to the city side, they get an instant 20 percent pay raise.”
Picazo said members have not received a raise since the beginning of the pandemic and when schools reopened, cafeteria and janitorial workers — who are members of SEIU — made sure students were fed, schools were properly cleaned and disinfected.
“Our workers have been going to work every day for the last four years and no raise whatsoever, no cost of living raise . . . the school wants to cry and complain ‘we got short attendance’ well yeah, a lot of our workers are parents that end up leaving San Francisco because it’s too expensive and with the salaries our members make, it’s difficult,” he said.
Christian Benitez, a custodial supervisor who oversees 14 sites, said SFUSD is ”frivolous with its money.”
“SFUSD is not doing right justice by the kids, fixing their infrastructure and keeping their staff at a liveable wage and that goes for not only classified but also non-classified workers,” Benitez said in a phone call.
Benitez said the custodial department is 300 workers short, meaning each person is doing the work of two or three people.
One of those custodians, Morena Amaya, who cleans César Chávez Elementary School, said she plans to join the strike if voted to move forward.
“As custodians, we are the faces of the school entrance. From the minute parents enter the school they notice whether or not it’s clean to have a pleasant environment,” Amaya said in Spanish on a phone call. “Our role is just as important and for example, in an elementary school, there are many emergencies where kids urinate in their pants and in this flu season, kids vomit and we cover all of those cases.”
“Nosotros los que limpiamos somos la cara de la entrada de las escuelas, desde que los padres entran a la escuela se fijan si está limpio o no para que tengan un ambiente agradable,” dijo Amaya. “Nuestro papel es muy importante también, por ejemplo en una escuela elementaria, hay niños que se hacen pee pee y poo poo, vomitan ahorita que estamos en esta temporada de gripe y pasan muchas emergencias y pues claro tiene que haber alguien que lo cubra.”
Picazo said this is the worst he’s seen the district in his 40 years working there.
“It’s hard to see how the last almost five years have turned out for our members and the lack of respect. The district says they want to be equitable, but I’m not seeing equitable happen here,” Picazo said. “The students are my priority, they’re the ones I want to protect. They’re the ones our members look out for and we just want our administrators to recognize the workforce that is doing the work out there to make sure our kids are learning in a safe, clean environment and they are being fed properly.”
The UESF published a press release on Sept. 27, where President Cassondra Curiel stated: “We are doing everything in our power to negotiate a contract that is fair for teachers and good for students and avoid strike . . . As we negotiate with SFUSD, we always have the needs and best interest of our students in mind.”
Frank Lara, executive vice president of UESF, said there are about 100 positions for teachers and 100 more for educators.
“All of this can be resolved by agreeing to the contract we’ve been proposing, which will make this a very attractive job to educators,” Lara said in a phone call. “We want the public and families to know that we’re really highlighting this contract to stabilize schools benefiting families and students.”
Tom Anderson, who has been in the district for nine years and is a special education teacher at Dolores Huerta Elementary School, said SFUSD is not providing the needed resources.
“You have the bargaining team, where it doesn’t feel like the district is negotiating in good faith because to their counter-proposals on the economic packages, they’re just pushing back the same paper back and forth with just different dates and it doesn’t really feel like they’re trying to come to a consensus,” he said.
In July of 2022, the SFUSD Board of Education and new superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne began a process to reaffirm its district’s goals, yet Anderson believes that teachers’ opinions don’t get listened to as much.
“I would like Dr. Wayne and his staff to visit schools, they still have not come to Dolores Huerta to see what schools or educators need because unfortunately, I think the district listens to parents more than educators when it comes to the needs and wants,” he said.
Anderson helps students who have an individualized education plan. It’s only him and a paraprofessional for 27 kids in the whole elementary school.
Elizabeth Kimballe, who has been in education for 25 years and is a dance teacher at Monroe Elementary, said there isn’t enough support staff, “especially social workers and now more than ever kids are coming with many issues that impact the way they behave in schools and we need to be able to provide them with the support that they need,” Kimballe said on a phone call.
She said there should be no need for a strike, but the circumstances have left no other choice.
“Nobody wants to go on strike, that’s the worst-case scenario for our students who need us. But if SFUSD is not going to work with us and try to make it a reasonable situation for educators to live and work in the city, then we have to take extreme measures,” Kimballe said.