Maya McFadden File Photo
At January's Local 217 rally at Gateway Center.
Pay raises laid out in the new four-year deal.
The Board of Education unanimously approved a new contract for the school district’s cafeteria workers union that includes a $6‑per-hour raise over four years and stepped-up training for lead cooks.
The Board of Education voted in support of that new contract for UNITE HERE Local 217 during a special meeting on Friday.
The now-approved contract runs from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2028.
The deal comes after union members have spoken up at Board of Education meetings and rallied outside of the school district’s Meadow Street headquarters to demand livable wages for food-service employees.
The district’s attorney Thomas Mooney explained Friday the major provisions of the new contract, including yearly pay raises from $1 an hour to $2.50 an hour through 2028.
“There was a true give and take in these negotiations. Some of these changes came from the board and some of these changes came from the union,” he said.
In addition to the hourly rate increases for all positions, Mooney noted that the new contract also includes that Local 217 employees’ first day of work each school year will be two days before the start of the new school year.
Local 217’s previous contract provided its members who work 20 or more hours per week with a “platinum plus” insurance plan, which Mooney said is “going out of existence.” Therefore, both the union and school board agreed to transition to a “lower cost plan” that Mooney said will save the district $400,000.
Other changes to the contract include an agreement to offer additional training to lead cooks, clarity that the school board has the right to create and eliminate positions, modified language about staff uniforms, and an increase in the union’s semesterly perfect-attendance bonus from $100 to $150.
As further evidence of the two parties working together, Mooney pointed to a new provision in the contract that states that, when an employee is absent for more than 10 days, the district can call the employee in for a meeting to discuss if that employee’s absences are justified.