The custodians and nutrition services staff at Portland Public Schools (PPS) now have a new union contract that guarantees historic wage increases and will improve the health and safety of campuses in Portland. After reaching a Tentative Agreement (TA) in December, employees voted to ratify this new agreement. The final step was to take this to the school board, who voted this past Tuesday to honor this agreement and authorize the superintendent to make these improvements.
“It’s the best we’ve ever gotten. It’s the most money we’ve gotten for these employees in years,” says Tim Curtin, a custodian at Grant High School and a member of the union’s bargaining team. “It should help with staffing as well by getting new people in the door. The goal is to get people in and get them to stay with these increases in wages. And hopefully we can even build towards more in the future.”
This new agreement will dramatically raise the starting wages for custodians in the district, which is important because it has been difficult to hire new employees and reach full staffing when starting wages are not competitive. Both custodians and nutrition services will be getting large Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) to bring their wages up to a rate that is more commiserate with neighboring districts, and long-term staff will receive bonuses.
The staff at PPS have been fighting against understaffing, overwork, and low wages for the past several years, so the bargaining team knew that this cycle of negotiations was going to be critical. They pushed on the district to recognize the value they present to the schools they serve, and how essential their work is for student safety and learning experiences. Teachers across the city stuck with them in support, particularly the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) who took on solidarity actions to show the district that the SEIU 503 members were not alone. Dozens of people packed school board meetings, shared their stories, and spoke out about what it was like to serve our communities.
And the district listened. The new PPS contract includes:
- New wage increases retroactive to July 1, 2019!
- 5% increase for Nutrition Services Assistants, plus increases on July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021 to stay above minimum wage.
- $1.59 per hour increase for Grade School and Middle School Leads by combining all Leads into one classification and pay rate, retroactive to July 1, 2019.
- $1000 one-time bonus for High School Leads to account for wage rates not increasing this year. This is equivalent to about .70 per hour.
- Almost 4% increase for all Leads on July 1, 2020, and 5% on July 1, 2021.
- New longevity bumps for Nutrition Services at both 25 years and 30 years of service.
- .50 per hour differential for Roving Leads.
- Complete wage adjustment for Custodial the wage table by two steps, meaning every Custodian and every Head get around a 5% wage increase retroactive to July 1st, 2019, plus an additional step for anyone who is not topped out.
- 3% wage increase for Custodians and a step for any who are not topped out on July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021.
- Reviews and updates around building classifications.
- Guaranteed ability to bargain health care costs from now on.
Going into 2020 the fight is only going to continue. We are electing sublocal and union wide officers and preparing for General Council, and we will be preparing for the political season. We have to take the energy we cultivated for this contract fight and use it to continue making improvements to our schools. When we stick together and raise our voices, anything is possible!