NSA Member Speaks to Board on Behalf of SEIU

School Board Testimony 11/5/07

Hello: My name is Nancy Smith. I have children at Woodlawn and Jefferson, and am President of the Jefferson PTSA:

Parents want skilled, experienced food service workers and custodians, and want them paid appropriately. The District’s proposed pay cut is anti-worker, and would damage the effort to keep living wage jobs in Portland. Lower wages mean higher turnover, resulting in custodians who don't develop relationships with students, teachers and staff. There is no conflict between paying a solid living wage and having an effective operation -- in fact, those go hand in hand.

The expected 10.5 million savings by illegally firing union workers actually cost us 14.5 million. It also cost us in ways NOT accounted for: lost mortgages and homes, destroyed marriages, suicides, ruined college opportunities for custodians' kids – and more hazardous schools.

One of the Neighborhood School Alliance's previous efforts included delivering groceries to our then-fired custodians' families, or driving them to the food bank, because of the free fall the District put them in when they were fired. Haven't they been down this road already? By targeting the same workers again, the District’s opening offer of a one third pay cut appears vengeful and retaliatory.

Therefore, we ask that rather than even considering a pay cut, you give union members at least a 3% cost of living increase -- anything less means our workers are losing ground.

The Board will soon be asking Portland residents to invest in a capital bond, citing under-maintained schools as a rationale. However, PPS fired the very staff that maintained our buildings, and now seeks to cut their salary by 30%! This is outrageous! Portland residents rightfully expect their hard-earned investments (old and new alike) to be properly protected and maintained!

Any cut you make to SEIU workers will leave our schools less safe, less clean, less healthy, less supervised and less maintained. Then we all lose. If the District wants “safe and civil” schools, the District must demonstrate “safe and civil” actions, starting from the top, starting now.

SEIU workers are part of our PPS family; they support the Board by serving as the thread of the social fabric in our schools. Rather than ripping apart this fabric that keeps our family together, let’s be civil. Please give our SEIU workers a well-deserved, respectable contract, one that provides fair salaries and benefits. The result will be “safe” schools for every child throughout our district!

Thank you very much.