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Rally With PPS Custodians and Food Service Workers Today

by Steve, January 28th, 2008

After eight months of negotiations, Portland Public Schools is sticking to their “initial offer” of a 33% pay cut for our custodians. This is an insult to working people everywhere. This would guarantee the loss of many experienced custodians. They are already understaffed, and our children’s health safety will be further jeopardized if we don’t convince PPS negotiators to come to the table with a reasonable offer.

There is a rally Tonight, at 6 pm at PPS headquarters, 501 N. Dixon St. This rally will feature none other than SEIU International president Andy Stern. Stern will also be speaking at a forum tonight, America: A Country of Greed or Greatness? (7:30, First Congregational Church, 1125 SW Park Ave.)

Here’s a printable placard (53KB PDF) to take to the rally and the school board meeting that follows.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 7:23 am and is filed under Economics, Labor, Politics, Portland, Public Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Rally With PPS Custodians and Food Service Workers Today”

  1. Comment from carla:
    January 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    Hey–if you’re interested in any photos from that rally, I’ve got a few I can share. Jeff Merkley was there on the picket line with SEIU.

    Carla–Netroots Outreach, Jeff Merkley for Oregon

  2. Comment from Steve:
    January 29th, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    Go ahead and post links, Carla, I’d love to see them. I wasn’t able to make the rally.

  3. Comment from k.c. workinguy:
    February 10th, 2008 at 1:07 pm

    Tentative Aggreement has been reached between PPS and its Custodians and Cafeteria Workers ! ! !
    Ratification vote will be conducted soon by SEIU Members, and at this time ratification seems likely to occur. MUCH THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO TOOK TIME TO SUPPORT THESE WORKERS ! ! ! There will be NO Immediate Pay Cuts to Custodians in their Current Job Classifications. That is a good thing, however it needs to be understood that the union has averted a strike by handing over MAJOR CONCESSIONS to PPS in the form of NO Raises for Custodians , a 3 year pay freeze and the implementation of a revised salary range/step scale which collapses job classifications into much lower salary range step/scales. Any employee who receives a promotion will be making MUCH LESS than under previous agreements. Hopefully people will not forget about the concessions these workers will be giving to PPS. And hopefully PPS will discontinue its attacks on its vital rank and file workforces. It is time for PPS to commit to the reconstruction of the Custodial Department so that its workers can once again contribute to the school community in a way that will make all feel proud . . . It is all about Clean, Safe, Healthy and Operational Schools ! ! !