The California School Employees Association’s (CSEA) Long Beach chapter held a rally outside the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 20, to protest LBUSD’s salary increase proposal for CSEA employees.
CSEA and LBUSD have been bargaining since March over a new labor contract to replace the current one expiring on Oct. 31. Though the two parties have agreed to 20 sections of the contract, according to an Oct. 18 LBUSD bargaining update, they continue to disagree about salary increases.
CSEA represents about 2,100 of the district’s classified employees, including instructional aides, nutrition-services workers, bus drivers, custodians and gardeners. Most LBUSD teachers are represented by a different union, the Teachers Association of Long Beach (TALB).
In its rallying call, CSEA said LBUSD is offering a two-cent per hour raise while teacher substitutes are getting a 16% raise, or about $4.50 per hour. LBUSD maintains it is offering CSEA the same “fair and competitive” package accepted by TALB in April.
LBUSD’s proposal includes a combination of retroactive raises totaling 3% for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, and a one-time “off-schedule” raise of 2% for 2020-21.
According to the district, CSEA has asked for a “significantly higher raise” of 4% for 2020-21.
“While the District recognizes the significant contributions of CSEA during these difficult times, the District is not able to responsibly agree to this offer if it is to remain fiscally solvent in the future,” LBUSD stated in its Oct. 18 update, adding that it has already increased classified employee salaries by 21% since 2013.
CSEA-represented employees speak out
However, CSEA-represented employees told the LBUSD board during its meeting Wednesday that the district’s proposed increases are not enough to offset their higher cost of living and rent payments.
Viola Mae Bledsoe, a special-education instructional aide, said CSEA is asking for an equitable cost-of-living adjustment.
“We are struggling,” she said, adding that she can’t find a home to rent because she doesn’t have enough income to qualify. Bledsoe said she earns about $3,000 per month from LBUSD and minimum monthly rents are $1,000.
“We are not making enough money with this district,” Bledsoe said.
Blesdoe called instructional aides the “backbone” of special ed, noting that maintenance workers like plumbers, electricians, groundskeepers and custodians worked during the pandemic as well.
“It’s a shame that you don’t care enough about your classified employees to do any better than this,” she told the board regarding LBUSD’s proposal.
Marilyn Brown, a nutrition-services worker, similarly said that she and others who serve food to LBUSD students are essential workers.
“We truly, honestly deserve the raises we are fighting for,” she said. “We are just as important as the other workers that work for the Long Beach Unified School District.”
According to LBUSD’s classified-worker pay schedule, a nutrition service worker earns between $14.50 and $18 per hour. Instructional aides and assistants earn between $17 and $27 per hour.
Joshua Newman, a teacher at Millikan High School, said the district’s stated commitment to equity includes making sure its “material resources” go to those who need it most.
“This is what I see: A district that is comfortable fully funding an armed police force on campuses but refuses to pay a living wage to paraprofessionals who support students with disabilities,” Newman said, adding that teachers who pay for classroom materials and students who experience excessive force by security officers suffer as well.
Negotiations between the union and the district over salary increases stalled last week. On Oct. 13, after state mediation failed to break the impasse, CSEA and LBUSD filed a joint request for the State’s Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) to collect facts from both sides and adjudicate.
A three-member panel—including one representative from each party and either a PERB-appointed chairperson or one mutually agreed upon by the two parties—will likely convene in January, according to LBUSD.
Meanwhile, the board agreed during Wednesday’s meeting to spend $2 million on a contract for special-education tutoring and hire 50 new instructional aides for those classrooms.
Erin Simon, assistant superintendent for school support services, said LBUSD is experiencing a shortage of workers like instructional aides, bus drivers and nutrition workers.
Despite giving instructional aides additional hours and hosting job fairs for classified positions, the district is losing workers, she said.
“I’m receiving resignations on a daily basis,” Simon said. “It is a very severe problem.”
