Paraeducators, bus drivers, and other support staff in Evergreen Public Schools ratified a new contract Sept. 11 after 17 days on strike.
School staff began the strike Aug. 26, which was originally scheduled to be the first day of classes for nearly 22,000 students at 38 schools in the east Vancouver district. School was canceled for 12 days before union members returned to work Sept. 12. Members of the Evergreen chapter of Public School Employees of Washington, SEIU Local 1948 (PSE) voted 63% in favor of the new contract.
A key item of contention in negotiations was that workers want to be paid for all hours worked. Hourly workers often stay late with no extra pay, said Evergreen chapter president Mindy Troffer-Cooper. Troffer-Cooper said the district is aware of the unpaid work but has turned a blind eye.
Paraeducators are workers who provide instructional and behavioral support to students. They aren’t paid after the bell rings at the end of the school day, but many stay late to make sure their students get on the bus safely, said Candace Grunlose, a bus driver who transports special needs students. Picketing outside Evergreen Elementary School on Sept. 3, Grunlose told the Labor Press that bus drivers also work off the clock cleaning their buses.
Alongside the new contract, the two sides agreed to create a mechanism to allow paraeducators to be paid for the time spent helping a student transition between school and bus when administrators agree a student needs assistance.
Hourly wages for paraeducators last school year ranged from $22.03 for the starting rate to $31.21 for 25-year paraeducators at Hollingsworth Academy, the district’s specialized therapeutic school.
Over three years, the new contract gives raises of 13.6% for paraeducators, 11.1% for bus drivers, 9% for mechanics, and 9.5% for other workers.
The union had voted on an earlier offer Sept. 4. That offer, which the district had called its final offer, was rejected by 87%. Special education paraeducator Jim McRae said Sept. 3 that he would be voting no on the district’s proposal.
“It is a paltry offer that is designed to do PR for parents,” McRae said.
District takes legal action
On Sept. 5, the school board unanimously approved a resolution allowing the district’s lawyers to take legal action against the union or striking workers. Washington state law doesn’t give public employees a protected right to strike, and courts have issued injunctions blocking strikes in the past.
The district filed a request for an injunction Sept. 8. A hearing was scheduled for Sept. 11 but was canceled because the tentative agreement had been reached, The Columbian reported.
PSE spokesperson Travis Tingvall said the union was not aware of any other instances of a school board threatening legal action against a PSE unit on strike. Evergreen Public Schools filed for an injunction in 2016 when the teachers union was nearing a strike. A judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring teachers to stay on the job through the first day of school.
According to The Columbian, injunctions were filed in 25 of the 78 teachers strikes that took place in Washington between 1976 and 2018. In 12 of those 25 cases, teachers disobeyed the injunctions.
Not a teachers strike
Paraeducator Rachel Rice said many community members were unaware of what support staff do in the schools and assumed the strike was another teachers strike.
“Our community just kind of didn’t notice us, but we’re used to that,” Rice said. “We’re the ones that are quietly behind the scenes keeping the school system humming.”
Paraeducators make up more than half of the 1,400 workers in the school support staff bargaining unit. The unit also includes bus drivers, security officers, maintenance workers, and speech therapists.
“We don’t expect to get rich by any means. But we have members that are going to donate plasma, and they’re working two or three jobs, going to food banks, lots of things, trying to make ends meet for their families,” Troffer-Cooper said.
The PSE contract officially expired Aug. 31, but Rice said waiting to strike until the contract expired would have been even more disruptive to the community.
More than 70 workers have signed up for the union since the strike started, Troffer-Cooper said Sept. 4. Of the 1,400 workers represented by the union, around 1,000 are dues-paying members.
Evergreen School District teachers backed up the striking support workers. The Evergreen Education Association, which represents 1,700 teachers and other educators, went on strike for more than a week at the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
La Center teachers strike
Teachers and other educators in the La Center School District ended a nine-day strike after ratifying a new contract on Friday, Sept. 12.
Teachers represented by the La Center Education Association (LCEA) walked out Sept. 3, nearly a week after school started. School was canceled for eight days while the 105 educators remained on picket lines.
The strike was over raises, with the district offering 9.2% over four years and the union seeking 9.9%. Union secretary Minna Thayer said the new contract made improvements in class sizes and salaries, bringing teachers closer to on par with nearby districts. She declined to say what percent of LCEA members voted in favor of ratifying the contract.
Being on strike at the same time as Evergreen school employees provided an opportunity to build community. Thayer said Evergreen members joined La Center picket lines, and La Center members joined Evergreen picket lines.
“We made a lot of connections and met a lot of people we never otherwise would have met,” Thayer said.
