The 1,000-member union for San Francisco school district custodians, cafeteria workers and other staff members reached a contract agreement with the school district Tuesday night, averting a feared strike.
SEIU 1021 has been in contract negotiations with the San Francisco Unified School District for a year. Earlier this month, its members voted 99.5 percent in favor of authorizing a strike against the district, saying bargaining had stalled. At the time, the proposals from the district and the union were described as far apart.
The union was asking for 16 percent raises backdated to 2020, as its workers had not seen a new contract — nor pay increases — since then. It also wanted one-time bonuses of $3,000 and other salary modifications. The district proposed 6 percent raises backdated one year, and 4 percent raises afterward — but only if the district’s deficit spending was reduced and certain other budgetary conditions were met.
On Wednesday, SEIU 1021 outlined specifics of the deal: A 16 percent raise, effective upon ratification of the contract, made up of a 6 percent retroactive pay raise to July 1, 2022, and a 10 percent raise from July 1, 2023; a $1,500 lump sum payment for workers; and pay increases for cafeteria workers by adding three more “steps” of 3 percent pay increases to their salary schedule.
The deal includes some, but not all, of SEIU’s latest demands of the district. SEIU hoped to get retroactive pay to 2020, the one-time payment is half what was hoped for, and the pay increases for cafeteria workers are lower, too.
“We’re pleased to reach a tentative agreement with our labor partners,” district Superintendent Matt Wayne said in a statement. “Service workers are essential to making our schools work for kids, and this agreement reflects our collective commitment to valuing the integral roles they hold in our school communities.”
The new contract will last until June 30, 2025.
The union chapter’s president, for his part, said that while the agreement does include a pay raise, it’s not large enough to bring school staff to parity with their city counterparts: A custodian employed by the San Francisco city government, for instance, has a base salary of $30 an hour, while a custodian employed by the school district has a base salary of $23 an hour.
“Our members will be receiving a decent raise to their pay, even if it didn’t get us parity with our counterparts in the city, but it gets us closer,” said Rafael Picazo, the president for the union’s chapter of school district staff. He said the raises for cafeteria staff are the most significant, given how little they are paid — between $23 and $28 an hour.
“Our strike vote communicated to the district the frustration that our members had about longstanding injustices,” added Nato Green, the chief negotiator for SEIU, “and we appreciate that the district heard us and made some fairly decisive steps to fix problems that we’ve been trying to fix for 10 years.”
The compromise comes as the United Educators of San Francisco, which represents 6,500 teachers across the district, held a bargaining session on Monday night that saw significant movement, according to those present.
Another bargaining session between teachers and the district is scheduled for Thursday. The teachers’ union last week voted 97 percent to authorize its own strike, putting pressure on the school district and raising the prospect of simultaneous walkouts.
A third labor group, the Building Trades and Construction Trades Council, which has some 80 members in the school district, has finished negotiating with the district and has asked a state body to intervene. Its members could, theoretically, strike at any time.
Picazo added that, if either the teachers’ union or the trades union do strike against the district, SEIU 1021 workers will also walk off the job. “We still stand with our brothers and sisters in UESF and Common Crafts union. If they strike, we will honor their strike and not cross any picket line.”
This piece has been updated to include details of the contract deal revealed on Wednesday.
