UPDATED: 8/20/22, 6:00 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The union representing bus drivers and maintenance workers in the School District of Philadelphia has voted to authorize a strike if they do not reach a new contract by the end of the month.
The district's current two-year contract with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 32BJ expires Aug. 31, two days after the first day of classes for city schools. The union says negotiations are stalled over issues of training and wages.
SEIU 32BJ represents 2,000 school workers, including mechanics, cleaners and building engineers.
"We are the machine that keeps it going," said 32BJ District 1201 leader John Bynum. "Without our buses, the kids don't get there. If we don't keep the buildings warm, the teachers don't want to come and the kids can't come."
Bynum and union vice president Gabe Morgan said 32BJ will keep negotiating with the district until the current contract expires. If a new deal isn’t reached, they say they will strike. Both highlighted how these workers made concessions during the 2012 financial crisis as well as the pandemic.
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“Our members have done everything they can with the tools they’ve been given with inadequate pay for 10 years to keep schools running,” Morgan said. “And so we’re asking now, lift us up. Give people what they deserve.”
Many members of 32BJ marched multiple times around the intersections of Broad and Spring Garden Streets, a block away from Benjamin Franklin High School. There were big banners with the union logo on the front and just about everyone wore t-shirts reading, “Respect Us. Protect Us. Pay Us.”
“Everyone who works in the school unfortunately in the 21st century should have active shooter training,” Morgan pleaded. “No one who's responsible for maintaining a boiler should not have adequate training for dealing with a boiler. Everyone in these schools should know about asbestos and lead and all those things and even those things have been a fight at the bargaining table.”
Many workers said at the press conference they had not undergone active shooter training.
This is the first school year with new superintendent Tony Wattlingon. KYW Newsradio asked Bynum and Morgan for their message to Wattglinton.
“Come see what we do,” Bynum said. “Come see how hard we work. Come see the dedication of getting on a school bus, five o'clock in the morning when it's five degrees outside and you got to warm up metal and you got to go door to door and pick these kids up and you dedicated to it. And when it rains and snows, you want to be there. These building engineers live and die to keep their buildings warm and provide the things that these kids need to have a comfortable day in school. I want him to be familiar with what the work we do and the dedication that we have doing our job.”
“Our message to the new superintendent is respect us, protect us and pay us,” said Morgan. “Our members have done everything they can for the schools. They’ve given back in every crisis. They've worked through the pandemic. Our members, kids are in these schools. Our members graduated from the school. They live in the neighbors of the schools. They've shown their commitment to Philadelphia. Always. It's time for the new superintendent to show his commitment to them.”
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School District of Philadelphia Chief Talent Officer Larisa Shambaugh said in a statement that the district remains hopeful it will be able to agree to a "fair and sustainable" contract that values and supports its employees.
Last year, the district and the Philadelphia teachers’ union reached a deal just hours before a deadline set for just after the start of the 2021-22 school year.
The following is Shambaugh’s full statement about the current negotiations:
“We deeply value the work of our staff who are represented by 32BJ SEIU District 1201. We continue to actively participate in conversations and negotiations to secure a new contract as soon as possible, without disruption to in-person learning to begin the 2022-2023 school year. Schools are hubs of our community. Last year, we saw firsthand the joy and excitement of our students, families, and staff as they reconnected in person and began to re-engage in the caring school communities they missed so much. Keeping this momentum going is what’s best for our young people. We remain hopeful that we will be able to agree to fair and sustainable terms of a contract that values and supports our employees.”