PPS Workers Speak Up at School Board Meeting

To deal with a $50 million shortfall at Portland Public Schools (PPS), the district proposed multiple unpaid furlough days for their staff. In March, the PPS bargaining team bargained in good faith with the district to cut furlough days for Custodians and Nutrition Services workers down to just one. However, last week, the district shortened the academic year by one day (adding another furlough day) without notifying workers before making the decision.

This is a violation of our bargained Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and we won’t go down without a fight! Member and bargaining team delegate Veronica Green testified during this week’s board meeting.

“[We] made it very clear that our members could not afford to lose any pay at all. I do wonder, does upper management ever worry about how they’re going to feed their kids? Or pay their rent?”

SEIU and other unions that represent PPS workers are continuing to bargain with the district.

Watch a recording of their testimony below.