CHICAGO — Hundreds of Chicago Public Schools lunchroom workers and their supporters rallied downtown here April 23 protesting the lack of progress toward a new contract after 11 months of negotiations. Along with lunchroom workers, organized by UNITE HERE Local 1, there were many school support workers, organized by Service Employees International Union Local 73; hotel workers, organized by UNITE HERE Local 1; and others.
Local 1 represents some 1,800 lunchroom attendants, cooks and porters who are among the lowest paid workers in the Chicago Public Schools system.
The main issues are wages and staffing. Evette Coleman told the Militant that she has worked in the schools for nine years and still makes just $17.50 an hour. “Even people who have worked there for 20 years don’t make much more than that,” she said. And lunchroom workers don’t get paid over the summer and winter breaks, when the schools are closed.
Workers have also faced working with severe staff shortages. Over the past decade the workforce has been slashed by 39%. Last summer CPS wiped some 250 vacant kitchen positions off the books. They claimed they had no choice, pointing to a $734 million budget deficit.
“Sometimes I’m the only one in the kitchen trying to feed hundreds of children,” Miss Venus, head cook at Sheridan Elementary, told the Militant. “We care about the children and want to make sure they are well fed, but the school system doesn’t care about us.”