School workers rally to protect school kids' health, safety
Education Desk
March 31, 2009
West County School District workers rally Wednesday to protect health and safety of kids, urge postponement of layoffs to find ´safe´ solution.
RICHMOND – Endangered workers at the West County Unified School District here will hold a rally Wednesday to protect the health and safety of school, and to preserve the jobs of frontline employees entrusted to care for them.
The rally is set for 6 p.m. WEDNESDAY at DeJean Middle School (3400 MacDonald Ave. in Richmond).
It precedes a school board meeting where the District plans to slash scores of jobs of frontline classified employees. The workers are asking the Board to postpone that decision to look for alternatives to layoffs, and they want to be part of the solution.
"Before the district makes these draconian cuts on the backs of employees who are entrusted to care for the health and safety of these school children, we ask the District sit down at a table with us and other stakeholders to find a safe solution," said Richard Leung of Public Employees Union Local 1.
"The employees who do the actual work have ideas on how the district's operations can be streamlined to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency and savings. This can help to make the pain of layoffs, if necessary, fair, equitable and minimal," added Leung.
He noted the District has already cut classified employees to a "skeleton" crew, and that further cuts will be disastrous for school hygiene, health and safety and services and put students, parents, staff and community at extreme risk.
"The frontline workers who clean the schools, ensure that attendance records of students are current and perform maintenance on the District´s antiquated fleet of vehicles are on the chopping block. It´s an unsafe situation," said Leung.
RICHMOND – Endangered workers at the West County Unified School District here will hold a rally Wednesday to protect the health and safety of school, and to preserve the jobs of frontline employees entrusted to care for them.
The rally is set for 6 p.m. WEDNESDAY at DeJean Middle School (3400 MacDonald Ave. in Richmond).
It precedes a school board meeting where the District plans to slash scores of jobs of frontline classified employees. The workers are asking the Board to postpone that decision to look for alternatives to layoffs, and they want to be part of the solution.
"Before the district makes these draconian cuts on the backs of employees who are entrusted to care for the health and safety of these school children, we ask the District sit down at a table with us and other stakeholders to find a safe solution," said Richard Leung of Public Employees Union Local 1.
"The employees who do the actual work have ideas on how the district's operations can be streamlined to reduce redundancy, improve efficiency and savings. This can help to make the pain of layoffs, if necessary, fair, equitable and minimal," added Leung.
He noted the District has already cut classified employees to a "skeleton" crew, and that further cuts will be disastrous for school hygiene, health and safety and services and put students, parents, staff and community at extreme risk.
"The frontline workers who clean the schools, ensure that attendance records of students are current and perform maintenance on the District´s antiquated fleet of vehicles are on the chopping block. It´s an unsafe situation," said Leung.
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