Her ten years of experience shine through when Debi Petersen Moore takes you through her workday at Cayuga Heights Elementary in Ithaca, New York, one of America's top districts.
When she and other teacher aides aren't exercising "total supervision" of students in the lunchroom, playground, halls, or bus loading area, Moore is working as the "equal partner" of kindergarten teacher Margaret Philipson.

The two collaborate to teach the kids math and reading skills, songs, and everything else there is to impart to kindergartners. So trusting is the arrangement that Philipson often asks her partner for advice, like who shouldn't be seated next to whom.
In the lunchroom, Moore teaches students about both money and nutrition. She also shares life skills and love with kids who pick up neither at home.

Moore's ready for the couch by the end of her taxing day, but she can't afford to relax. Her annual salary of $10,134 forces this single mother of two to work outside jobs, everything from waitressing to babysitting.

Second and third jobs are a "touchy subject" for Ithaca's poorly paid education support professionals, says Title I teaching assistant Debbie Minnick, president of the 200-member Ithaca Paraprofessionals Association (IPA).
"Some of our members are on partial public assistance," Minnick reveals, "and some people even call me and ask, 'Can the union give me enough money to get through to Friday?'"

Going Public

Talking publicly about one's own poverty wages, especially in an upscale Ivy League oasis like Ithaca, isn't a comfortable thing
to do, but IPA members like Moore are doing it extremely well.
They've informed residents of this high-cost community that more than two-thirds of all full-time Ithaca paraeducators earn less than $13,000 a year.

What's worse, one-quarter of the full-timers make less than $10,000. And with these sorry statistics in hand, the local is conducting an innovative contract campaign focusing on just one goal, a "living wage."

A living wage is defined as the amount of income and resources (such as health benefits) needed for a family to adequately meet basic needs without public or private assistance.

IPA members have taken an Ithaca-area living wage estimate calculated by a local credit union, some $17,500, and prorated it for their ten-month schedule of 32-hour weeks. That $14,600 figure is the basis of their contract proposal.

The Ithaca school board refuses to even acknowledge the living wage issue. "I don't think we have the right to tax for social goals such as the living wage," one board member has told the press. "We should be paying market rates [for personnel]. If we pay more than we have to for labor, we have to tax for it. Then we are taxing poor people to help other poor people." In translation, the Ithaca district "has no clue what we paraeducators do and just doesn't think we're worth it," says Minnick.

But IPA officers-Minnick, Michele Gordon, Carol Barriere, and Joanne Denison-aren't going to wait for board members to tour their schools and learn the complexity of para work. These local leaders have teamed up with their 14 building reps to involve members in a citywide campaign for para recognition and fair pay.

A Para-Public Bond

Backed by the communications expertise of NEA-New York and the organizing skills of two invaluable local allies--the Midstate Central Labor Coalition, AFL-CIO, and the Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition--Ithaca paras are appealing to the conscience of this education-minded community.
Paras are stating their case at public events such as forums and school board rallies, joined by teachers and other ESP, union and community activists, and even Cornell University students.
And paras are learning about supporters they never knew they had.

"So far, we've collected close to 3,000 signatures on a petition to the school board for a living wage," reports Carl Feuer, a staffer for the Midstate Central Labor Coalition.

"If you mention 'paraprofessionals' or 'living wage' to community residents, they grab the petition," Feuer adds. "There's widespread public opposition to paying less than a living wage, and we find a tremendous amount of love and respect for what paraprofessionals do in the schools."

This para-public bond will be further strengthened by a recently released video on IPA members' commitment and poverty pay, The Hands That Help.

Produced by the Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition with funding from the National Organization for Women, the video notes that Ithaca paras are over 90 percent female and 20 percent people of color and live right on the economic margins.
Paras like Debi Petersen Moore, Rae Williams, and Lambertis Gibbs take viewers through their tough jobs and tight finances-an act of courage.

"I feel so strongly about this. People need to know it," Moore declares. "I've put my heart in this job for ten years, shown the commitment," she stresses. "Yet I have to borrow non-stop from my parents and brother to survive and can't pay all of my bills. I've had the gas and electric turned off twice in a year. It's not fair."

A Moral Imperative

"Our members fully support what we're trying to do in this living wage campaign," says Minnick.

So you can believe Moore when she says: "We're prepared to do whatever it takes. And if it takes a year, it takes a year."
"This is the best, most engaging contract campaign I've ever worked on," says NEA-New York UniServ rep Dan Cuomo. "It combines positive people with a moral imperative.

"We have a strong sense that we're bargaining for every other ESP group in the state," he adds. "Other superintendents are definitely watching." 4

For more information, contact Debbie Minnick at Debbieipa@aol.com.

Only Heroes

Among the 6,000 victims of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center were 1,000 union members-including firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical technicians who died in the act of rescuing others.

Topping the list in both numbers and sheer bravery were some 340 members of the International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO. Many of them, and their supervising officers, perished in smoke-filled stairwells while evacuating people from the flaming Twin Towers.

"We know that our brothers and our sisters were responding as they were trained to do," points out IAFF President Harold A. Schaitberger. "They were performing search and rescue, evacuating people in chaos, and staging and initiating attacks on fires."

These public servants had no desire to be heroes, Schaitberger says. They simply understood that firefighters have "a higher calling."

There's "no decision" necessary when you see someone in a burning building, adds a New York firefighter who survived. "You already made that decision when you took the job. What we do has value-we know that."

Other public employees who didn't think twice about saving lives-and paid with their own-were 23 members of the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and ten emergency medical technicians represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.

Another fallen AFSCME member is especially missed by firefighters. The Rev. Mychal Judge, a member of Local 299 and chaplain of the New York City Fire Department, died at the scene ministering to an injured firefighter.

In the aftermath of September 11, hundreds of union firefighters, ironworkers, and steelworkers have been at the World Trade Center site helping with rescue and recovery efforts.
But there's other follow-up work to be done.

"The terrorist attack on the USA is an attack against all the ideals treasured by democratic societies, which are basic values promoted by teachers," wrote Norwegian Union of Teachers leaders Helga Hjetland and Haldis Holst to NEA President Bob Chase. NUT and NEA are both part of Education International, a world federation of educator unions led by former NEA President Mary Hatwood Futrell.

"Education unions have a special role to play in promoting and protecting democratic values. The fight against religious and political extremism starts in the classroom," wrote Hjetland and Holst. Here's a chance for all educators to be heroes.

And here's yet another chance: Contri-bute generously to the NEAFT September 11 Fund, established by NEA and the American Federation of Teachers. This fund provides long-range assistance to the children and affected families of victims of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Checks made out to the NEAFT September 11 Fund can be sent to NEA (attn: Dennis Van Roekel), 1201 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Just 12 days after the September 11 disaster, 13 union coal miners died in explosions at the Jim Walter Resources Mine No. 5 in Brookwood, Alabama. Twelve of those men perished while trying to rescue a co-worker.

"People rushing instinctively toward the danger instead of away from it-we've all heard the stories of miners who escaped the first blast running back into the mine to help those first trapped," U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said at the miners' memorial service.
"Whether they were firefighters from Brooklyn, New York or miners from Brookwood, Alabama," Chao said, "America's heroes are mostly ordinary people who do extraordinary things with extraordinary courage."

In Wyoming last June, the Natrona County school board voided its 32-year agreement with the Natrona County Education Association/NEA and unilaterally imposed a contract of its own.
But NCEA never, ever, flinched.

Local President Alice McNamee coolly informed the board: "The Association's position continues to be that this good faith agreement is presently in effect and will continue to be in effect until such time as the terms and conditions for change of the contract are met."

"NCEA members were absolutely dedicated to finding a solution to this dilemma," reports UniServ Director Harold Bovee. "They did lots of hard-nosed volunteer work to open up communications with both the board and the public."

These teachers joined with students and parents to collect more than 4,500 signatures on a petition calling on the board to reinstate the contract and enter into negotiations with NCEA.
The upshot: In September, representatives from the entire Natrona County school community-teachers, ESP, school board members, administrators, and a parent-gathered for an NEA-coordinated weekend retreat on "interest-based strategies" for bargaining. Stay tuned.