School staff rallies for custodians

by Nate Gotlieb

Contributing Writer

Elk River Area School District employees rallied Monday to show solidarity with the custodians, whose work district leaders are considering outsourcing to cut costs.

More than 350 teachers, custodians, cooks, paraprofessionals and clerical workers attended the rally at Gateway Church in Elk River, during which speakers criticized the district’s contract offers to all five bargaining groups. They said custodians play a vital role in maintaining a safe learning environment, noting that they do more than keep the buildings clean and running.

“If they do try and outsource us, it’s going to affect everybody,” said Tony Emig, the head custodian at Zimmerman Elementary School. “Cheap labor ends up being very, very expensive in the long run.”

District leaders say they face long-standing funding deficits, noting a structural deficit of about $2 million. The district used $2 million in general fund money this year to protect class sizes, Superintendent Mark Bezek said, adding that the district receives $12 million below the metro average in state funding.

“Financially and budget-wise, we really have nowhere to go,” he said, imploring residents to talk to their legislators about boosting funding levels. “Now is the time to make these changes while we (Minnesota) have a surplus.”

In an email last week, Bezek wrote that the district has offered a package that would start new employees at a lower pay rate but increase pay for current employees. It would also maintain employee benefits.

The district’s lead negotiator, Tim Caskey, said the offer would ultimately bring new employees to the same pay rate, though he couldn’t say how long that would take.

The speakers countered that the district’s offer would create a “two-tier wage structure” that would devalue the work of new hires and make it hard to fill open positions.

“They’re treating custodians and all the other employees as liabilities rather than assets,” Emig said.

Negotiations ongoing

Service Employees International Union Local 284 represents the 76 custodial and maintenance employees in the district whose jobs could be outsourced. The union also bargains for the district’s cooks and clerical workers.

AFSCME Council 5 represents district paraprofessionals, and the Elk River Education Association represents teachers. Monday was the first-ever joint rally of the five groups.

The district also bargains contracts with principals, third-level administrators, special education coordinators and confidential clerical and secretarial workers, Caskey said.

SEIU representative Leif Grina said his union last met with the district Nov. 12 and will meet with district leaders next week. He said the most recent contract expired June 30 but remains in effect until the union negotiates a new one.

The district will begin negotiations with ASFCME Dec. 29, Caskey said.

Troy Wihlm, one of the chief negotiators from the Elk River Education Association, said his team has been pleased with the negotiations process so far, complementing Caskey, who is new to the district. He said negotiations stalled as usual, however, when the sides began discussing financial terms.

Wihlm said his union has asked for a 2.25 percent annual pay increase, which he said is comparable to similar districts. The district countered by offering a 1 percent increase, he said, and by asking the union to use $685,000 in staff-development money to pay for several one-time increases.

Caskey didn’t comment about other districts’ increases or the specifics of the Elk River district’s proposal.

“We continue to negotiate the economics around the contract,” he said. “It’s a back-and-forth process.”

Wihlm also said the district has been inattentive to the teachers’ workload concerns, noting that the district hasn’t lived up to its promise of taking commitments off teachers’ schedules as it adds others.

“I think all know that budgets are made on priorities,” he said. “We are obviously not a priority to the current administration.”

Caskey said the district understands the importance of the workload issue and will continue to work with the teachers to solve it. He said the district changed some of the scheduling for training so teachers can be in their classrooms more.

“By not taking them out of the classroom that certainly helps,” he said. “It’s an ongoing discussion.”

‘We take care of them’

Most of the employees at Monday’s rally also attended the subsequent School Board meeting, where four speakers voiced support for the custodians during open forum. Education Minnesota President Denise Specht also spoke at the rally and attended the School Board meeting.

Custodians and supporters had also gathered outside a Dec. 1 district meeting with prospective contractors for the custodial work, Grina said.

The speakers at Monday’s rally stressed that the custodians, cooks and other support staff are the ones who provide students with a good learning environment.

“We’re not here to just put food on their plate but to be a part of their learning environment,” said Leanne Musgjerd, the head cook at Zimmerman Elementary School.

She said she encourages kids to make healthy choices, helps them learn to be patient and listens to them when they want to share stories and ask questions.

Jessica Zoubek, a secretary in the district, said the support staff bring care and dedication to their relationships with students, teachers and parents. Custodians in particular do more than keep the heat on, she said. They respond to incidents such as smoke alarms, cleaning up after sick students and opening lockers.

Emig, the Zimmerman janitor, told a story of a first-grader befriending him on the boy’s first day of school. The boy went home and told his mom that he made two friends that day: Mr. Tony and Mr. Vern, both janitors.

“They see us, and we take care of them,” Emig said.