Support Staff Seeks a Living Wage
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| Denmark School District library aide Kay Hansen
provides a warm and friendly face, as well as a helping hand, to
children in the elementary school. (Photo by Bill Hurley) |
If it weren’t for their spouses’ incomes, Kay Hansen, Karen
Kane and Sara Drewiske simply could not afford to keep their jobs in the
Denmark School District.
Like so many education support professionals throughout the state, they
are paid wages so low that the federal government would consider them
in need of assistance if they were supporting a family of four. And these
are for jobs that are critical to the daily functioning of a school district
and the education and well-being of the children. Hansen is a library
assistant; Kane is a food service employee; and Drewiske is a special
education assistant.
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| Sara Drewiske |
“I’ve been told I have the most challenging job around here,”
Drewiske said.
In fact, Hansen, who is president of the Denmark Association of Support
Personnel, said nearly all of the women in the 63-member association rely
on their husbands for their primary family incomes. The unit has only
a handful of men, who are engineers or custodians and are paid at a higher,
though still very modest, wage.
Kane, who works half time at $10.38 per hour, is working “strictly
for the insurance” even though she pays 58% of the premium out of
her own pocket. After deductions for taxes, insurance and dues, one of
the two-week paychecks she brought home last year was for $5.98.
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| Karen Kane |
“The very little I end up with doesn’t really amount to anything,”
Kane said.
Hansen, who works full time at $9.31 an hour, needs the money to pay
bills, but it isn’t enough. She also has a part-time job as a receptionist
at a chiropractic office and works summers as a cleaner at the school.
Such is the life of an education support professional: hard work, long
hours and dedication for little money and far less respect than her or
she deserves.
Education support professionals in other districts will tell even worse
stories. In February, support staff in Berlin filed for arbitration to
help settle their contract, which will replace one that expired two years
ago.
One-third of the teachers’ assistants in the district earn less
than $7 per hour. That compares to a starting wage of $7.25 per hour at
a local fast food restaurant. About 80% of the paraprofessional staff
in Berlin earn less than $8.63 per hour, which is the poverty level for
a family of four.
It’s a situation that WEAC, the NEA and local ESP associations are
bound and determined to correct, said Fran McNett, WEAC’s ESP coordinator.
The union is placing a high priority on bringing respect – and respectful
wages – to ESP.
As part of that effort, the WEAC Statewide Bargaining Goals Committee
and the WEAC Board of Directors have adopted a new set of bargaining goals
for ESP that include negotiating a living wage as a minimum starting salary,
as well as pay raises that at least meet the cost of living, with no givebacks
in benefits.
“Many parents are amazed when they learn that the people who provide
essential services to their children in school every day are being paid
near-poverty wages, but they are,” McNett said.
In fact, many support professionals are paid less than a living wage
even after many years of service.
The common definition of a living wage is the amount of income and resources
needed for a family of four to adequately meet basic needs without public
or private assistance.
The actual amount of a living wage varies by location, but the standard
national figure is $11.31 per hour, which is 130% of the 2002 poverty
guidelines provided by the federal government; $11.31 is the wage at which
a family of four is no longer eligible for food stamps.
“We believe that gender discrimination enters into the picture here,”
McNett said. “Most of these jobs are traditionally held by women
who are underpaid. There is an attitude among some employers that it’s
OK because their husbands are the ‘primary bread winners.’ That’s
wrong, that’s unfair, and that is discriminatory. We are determined
to change that attitude.”
Hansen said the formation of an ESP union in Denmark five years ago already
has helped considerably.
“Before we formed our local, there were times we took nickel raises,”
she said.
The Denmark Association of Support Personnel is just beginning negotiations
on a new contract that will become effective July 1, 2003. Hansen said
members want raises that meet the cost of living, more vacation time and
personal days, an early retirement credit for unused sick days, and no
givebacks in insurance.
They deserve that and more, Kane said. “The support staff in this
school system do a lot of hard work.”
Drewiske said there two reasons she works as a special education assistant
for $9.37 an hour – she likes the work and she likes the people she
works with.
“If I had to do it for the money only, I wouldn’t be here,”
she said.
As a special education assistant, Drewiske works with some severely disabled
students who require a great deal of attention and patience.
Her duties at times include feeding, lifting and carrying students; assisting
in the administration of medications; and sometimes changing diapers.
“It gets very trying at times. I’ve been slapped in the face
and had my hair pulled a few times,” she said. “You can be stepped
on or kicked, or have an earring pulled out.”
It’s not that Drewiske is complaining; she’s just describing
the difficulty of the job.
“I like my job. I like working with the kids,” she said. “But
I don’t have a lot of people volunteering to be a sub for me; let
me put it that way.”
Hansen said she understands that the bargain is not going to be easy,
but she and her colleagues are determined to bring a greater level of
respect to their jobs.
“I know it’s hard times and everything else,” she said,
“but we still have the right to make a decent living.”
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Posted April 4, 2003