Victory for a Living Wage

Alabama support professionals organize and win a decent salary.

That all started to change on August 10. In direct response to a nine-month “living wage” campaign run by the 1,090-member local affiliate, Birmingham ESP (BESP), the school board approved a new pay scale that offers support professionals some hope for the future.

Among other things, this schedule, effective September 1, boosts the starting hourly wage for a school nutrition employee from $6.59 to $9.50 and increases minimum pay for a nine-month classroom aide from $14,463 to $15,400 a year.

By agreement of BESP and the district, some veteran nine-month aides will progress more quickly to a new $20,300 maximum. And some 12-month aides will advance sooner to a new max of $26,478, hiking pensions.

This, incidentally, is a negotiated agreement—in a state where educators don’t have the “right” to collective bargaining.
That’s the beauty of an NEA living wage campaign. With high numbers (BESP signed up some 90 percent of potential members), hard work, and NEA guidance, any ESP unit in any state can win a decent raise.

BESP received tactical advice and a living wage grant from NEA. But “this campaign was solely run by ESPs,” notes Alabama Education Association UniServ Director Jeff McDaniels.

These activists pursued “every avenue” to decent pay, McDaniels adds, telling compelling personal stories in ad hoc forums with the superintendent, “interest-based” bargaining sessions, the media, and mass rallies at school board meetings.

BESP’s best single weapon: the firm support of parents. On drive-time talk radio shows, parents and other local residents learned about rock-bottom ESP pay—contrasted with six-digit administrator salaries—and the district’s problem in retaining school lunchroom workers.

Before long, the district miraculously found money for an ESP raise, moving from a $42 million “deficit” to a $7 million “surplus” in the space of just a year.

Thank those angry parents.

Parent and community support is vital to a living wage campaign, says teaching assistant Debbie Minnick, president of the Education Support Professionals/Ithaca (New York), which bargained—with the backing of NEA-New York—a whopping 50 percent pay increase in 2002.

ESP/Ithaca enjoyed 100 percent membership, notes Jorge Rivera, an NEA collective bargaining specialist. “You’ve got to increase membership before you seek a living wage.”

And you’ve got to think big. “We ESPs need to think differently about our wages; we need to be more aggressive and self reliant,” Minnick says. “This is a human rights and social justice issue, and a matter of respect for what we do!”

For more on wage strategies and NEA living wage grants to local affiliates, contact bargaining specialist Jorge Rivera.

—Dave Winans

Six Ways to Decent Pay

Want to start a living wage campaign in your district? NEA experts recommend that you:

1. Boost your local Association membership. Only numbers talk when you want a school board to listen to your needs.
2. Take ownership of your campaign. Association staff can offer advice, but only volunteer ESP activism—and a burning desire for justice on the job—can bring life to the living wage.
3. Do your research. Doubt any district’s claim that it “can’t afford” to fund a decent wage; look where else it spends its money. And tap the Internet—or a local college or organization supporting higher pay for working people—to research living costs in your community.
4. Line up your allies. Where possible, approach parents and community groups before starting a living wage drive. Let them know that folks working with their kids need good pay to stay and grow as professionals.
5. Be visible and tell your story. Wear, say, an “I deserve a living wage” T-shirt to school once a week. And use every available forum, from school board meetings to the local media, to explain what life is really like on a pauper’s pay.
6. Be persistent. You won’t win a living wage overnight. But fair-ness is an issue that never fades.

More ESP stories in this issue:

• New Mexico ESPs, teachers send a bad boss packing
• South Carolina ESPs join indoor air quality teams