LETTER: Harwood staff seek community support for contract resolution
January 10, 2024 To the Community:
The Harwood Unified Union School District Support staff have been working under an expired contract since July 1, 2023. They started the negotiation process back in November 2022.
These are the contract points at issue:
Support staff have been working under an expired contract since July 1
Negotiations between the board and union reached impasse after months of bargaining and now the process is headed to fact-finding
Wages in the district haven’t kept up with cost of living over the past few years, let alone the massive upcoming increases to our portion of the insurance premium starting July 1, 2024.
Support staff are fighting for a fair contract that provides decent wages and additional sick days to match what teachers currently get. Currently support staff receive 10 sick days, teachers receive 20.
Many schools, pre-COVID already gave their support staff 15 sick days. Our support staff work incredibly closely with children and students and are frequently exposed to illness just as much as teachers are, if not more so, and should not have to make the choice between going without pay or going to work sick because they ran out of sick days.
The support staff professionals include food service staff, paraeducators, administrative assistants, receptionists, maintenance staff, technology support staff, librarian assistants, speech-language pathologist assistants, student support, and registrars.
At the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10, various support staff, and some teachers in support of them, will be reading letters to the board during public comment. Additionally, the support staff have a petition that will be read (and copies handed out), signed by over 90% of all of our district teachers and support staff.
It is time that our community is aware of the struggle that our district support staff is having. We are reaching out for community support. Community members are more than welcome to join us at the school board meetings and show your support!
Danielle Lillard
HUHS support staff employee
Support Staff Bargaining Committee Member