SEIU Local 99 Member,
You may have received an LAUSD Memo from Superintendent Ramon Cortines regarding a hiring freeze for certificated and classified positions.
We do not expect that current SEIU Local 99 members will be impacted significantly by this two-month hiring freeze. In fact, most school-based positions are exempt from the hiring freeze.
While we are encouraged that the Superintendent is working to reduce the impact of hiring freezes on direct student services, we know that our schools have not recovered from the drastic cuts of the past few years. As you know, many positions, particularly custodial and cafeteria services, are severely understaffed. As the Superintendent reviews the District’s budget over the next months, we will let him know that it is critical that he consider the restoration of essential student services. Our students can’t have clean, safe, healthy and supportive schools without sufficient staff and work hours.
In our recent contract, we established various contractual committees to address these issues with the District. We have the Hours and Work Years Improvement Committee, the Safety and Materials Committee, and the Training and Career Path Advisory Committee that will allow us to have direct talks with the District about the best ways to address workload, work hours, training, safety and other issues impacted by staffing levels. The Job Training and Career Path Committee met for the first time on October 29. Other committee meetings are being scheduled over the next few weeks.
As we continue discussions with the District, we also hope to continue to work with Superintendent Cortines on staffing solutions that more fully support student learning, including increasing work hours and creating job training and advancement programs that promote dedicated and experienced SEIU Local 99 Members.
We are also scheduling several union membership meetings by job classification to ensure that we hear directly from as many members as possible about your job-specific issues and how we can best address them through our new contractual committees. More information will be available soon.
In the meantime, please continue to let us know of any questions, issues or concerns. Please contact SEIU Local 99’s Member Resource Center at 213-637-0296.
As the District continues to review and make decisions on its budget, let’s continue to stand strong. Our strength to advocate for improved staffing, hours, safety, and training is in our unity.
