 Social CommitteeLet’s have some fun! Help plan events where our members can gather and enjoy themselves!I want to help plan events! |  Uniform CommitteeYou have to wear it, you should get a say in what it looks like, how it feels, and that it protects you well. I want a say in my uniforms! |
 Union Wear CommitteeWear your membership with pride! Help design union gear for SFUSD chapter members to show off their solidarityI want to help make a Union shirt! |  Telecom CommitteeOther employees get paid when they have to use their phones for work – we should too! Help make that happen.I should be paid for cell phone use! |
We met on Monday for our third negotiation session about the potential Prop G Parcel Tax. Our asks include additional salary for all members to help us reach city parity, a minimum 4-hour schedule for student nutrition workers, summertime paid training for clerks, expansion of environmental health and a training program for new staff, and community school support for the new transitional housing shelter at Buena Vista Horace Mann.
We anticipate winning on most of these issues. If one is particularly important to you, call the school board and let them know, or come to the June 12 meeting at 6pm!
Because of a potential November ballot measure that could overturn the parcel tax, it may be several months before this is fully resolved. We’ll keep you posted. If you want more information on our political work, please give us your personal email address.
Remarks by Chapter President Josh Davidson on Board Policy 3514.1: Hazardous Substances, adopted by SFUSD Board of Education tonight:
I’m encouraged to see the boarding considering this policy and hope that you will adopt it tonight.
As you may know, SFUSD used to have 15 full time staff working on hazardous materials management, abatement, and safety training. We call these folks “Asbestos Worker IIs” because they were hired and trained in a simpler time when we didn’t know as much about the health impacts of pesticides, cleaning chemicals, materials used in science labs, and so forth.
Our expanding science program, aging facilities, and increasing safety standards have changed the work of these members over the last twenty years, and attrition from retirement has left us with three remaining staff. The remaining staff are also near retirement.
School safety presents unique challenges, which means that it’s hard to find folks that we can hire — especially on our salary scale. In our parcel tax conferences with your senior staff, one of the priorities we identified was building a training program to develop existing staff to take on this work, with a goal of reaching 6 positions by 2020 and building a pipeline for future staffing.
I hope when you confer with your staff about this policy you will encourage them to allocate resources to build out this program.
Outside of bargaining, we’re working with the District, the Families Union, UESF, Close the Gap, and Jobs with Justice on a community hiring plan that will improve outreach to underserved communities. SEIU is taking a leading role in developing this plan, and we really want broad member participation in putting together this plan and the materials and outreach around it. Please get in touch with Josh if you’re interested!
PHONE BANK on Wednesday, March 22
Join us on Wednesday nights from 5-8pm at the union hall, 350 Rhode Island Street, to reach out to citizens in California, Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada and ask them to take steps to protect our health care.
As of March 8, the Education integration Specialists have joined our union! These members provide crucial family and community support at schools throughout our district. As part of this unit election, new member and steward Tracy Brown will be joining our bargaining team.
Your 2013-2016 Contract has been finalized, and we’re signing it on Monday, November 18. Here’s a brief look at what’s new — we’ll add detailed language for each of these provisions soon.
Your bargaining team on the final night of bargaining the 2013-2016 contract. At left, Carmelo Sgarloto for the School District.
- A 2% raise for all members starting July 1 2013
- A 0.5% raise for all members starting January 1 2014
- The District will increase its share of health insurance premiums
- Four floating holidays even in years when Lunar New Year falls on a weekend.
- 40¢ per hour longevity premium for workers with more than 15 years in the District
- $10/day Lead Worker Pay
- An expanded uniform program
- Grandchildren added to “immediate family” for bereavement leave
- Expanded language on several important issues:
- Workplace safety
- Emergency preparedness training
- Discrimination and harassment
- Professional development
- A new payment process for employees not enrolled in direct deposit
- The District will make its best effort to provide 45 days notice of layoffs, and commits to delivering layoff notices in a courteous and professional manner
- Employees laid off immediately before a holiday will be paid for the holiday