Fighting for Job Security

Photo by Charlie Shaffer

Delaware support professionals stand their ground in a "district in turmoil."

Education support professionals in Dover, Delaware, have shown they can take on a school district and win--with a little help from their friends.

After years of fighting the school board individually, the four local Associations in the Capital School District have joined forces, supporting each other through contract negotiations and job disputes.

The custodians' local, the Capital Support Association (CSA), confronted the school board first. Members of CSA have worked for more than two years without a contract because of a dispute over the district's right to fire workers. Through a clerical mistake, the custodians' 1997-01 contract eliminated an employee's right to appeal a termination through binding arbitration. No one discovered the error until the third year of the contract, but the school board intends to implement the change in the 2001-04 contract, which has become the sticking point in negotiations.

"We're at a standstill. We're really butting heads," says CSA President Mike Bivins. "We can't believe it's gone this far."

After months of negotiations, a state-appointed fact finder intervened in November 2001 and recommended restoring the custodians' right to appeal terminations. The school board still refuses to accept the recommendations and has attempted to eliminate the same right from the secretaries' contract, which the Capital Educational Secretaries Association began negotiating in March.

"The board has really alienated the entire community," says UniServ Director Charlie Shaffer. "It's a district in turmoil and one where employees are disrespected, undervalued, and underappreciated."

In a powerful display of unity, paraeducators, secretaries, and teachers spoke out at school board meetings supporting the custodians and joined them in informational pickets.

As a result, the board tried to buy its way out of the dispute by adding a 4 percent salary increase to the fourth year of the new contract. (That comes to about $100 more a year for most custodians, Bivins says.) But members of CSA refused to sell out and voted unanimously to reject any offer that does not provide more job security.

"Our groups, the education groups, have given lots of support," Bivins says. "Our next move is to picket the board members' houses and try to get more attention in the papers."

The locals also have planned similar rallies to support the secretaries during their negotiations this year and the teachers next year. Their united effort has attracted regional and statewide attention through a dozen newspaper and television reports.

Meanwhile, the Capital Paraprofessional Association (CPA) spent seven months fighting for the jobs of 22 bus drivers and paras who serve about 60 special needs students in the district. The school system wanted to privatize those positions, citing cost and maintenance concerns and a lack of substitute drivers.

With the help of other Association members, CPA educated and mobilized parents, who contacted board members and joined picket lines to support the employees.

CPA developed possible solutions to the substitute shortage, including an arrangement with a local college to use its education students as drivers and bus aides. In the end, the school board voted against subcontracting the transportation services, although the board may revisit the idea if current transportation plans fail. Luci West, president of CPA, considers the decision a victory, nonetheless.

"It was through our hard work with members, parents, drivers, and the Delaware State Education Association that the decision went our way," says West. "This is a good example of how a small local association can make things happen."

--Kristen Loschert