Victory for Students & Cafeteria Workers

Los Angeles – Late this afternoon, 2,900 SEIU Local 99 cafeteria workers won their fight for improved working conditions and health benefits when the LA Unified District School Board voted in favor of a resolution that will increase worker hours. The increase in hours for workers will provide more students with the opportunity to eat their free or reduced price lunch and it will also qualify cafeteria workers for health benefits. “Today, LAUSD students, parents and cafeteria workers are winners,” stated Bill Lloyd, Interim Executive Director of SEIU Local 99. “More students are going to get through the lunch lines which will have a positive impact on their ability to focus in the classroom. Cafeteria workers are now qualified for health insurance. The cafeteria workers understand the problems our students face each day in the cafeteria lines and today, the LAUSD school board confirmed that they have been listening. The leadership of people like Board President Monica Garcia, Yolie Flores Aguilar and Dr. Richard Vladovic give local 99 members hope that LAUSD can and will change policies that will result in better learning environment for students and improved working conditions for workers."

Currently, LAUSD cafeterias cannot feed enough students during lunch. Long lines, limited seating capacity and short lunch periods mean kids aren’t eating a nutritious lunch every day. Currently, only 35% of middle and high students eat cafeteria food, even though, district wide, 79% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Nationwide, the average school system feeds about 55% of secondary students. The average student population in secondary schools (middle schools and high schools) is 1,900, and 96% of the 88 LAUSD secondary schools only have one 30 minute lunch
period. Under the current system, it is impossible to feed 1,900 students in 30 minutes. The last student in line is required by LAUSD policy to have a minimum of 20 minutes to eat, and with 3 hour work shifts for cafeteria workers, not enough kids are getting food during lunch period.

LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia stated, “I am proud to be a member of a Board that passed this important resolution for our students and employees. It is critical to have the appropriate staffing to guarantee all students receive a meal from our lunch program. By providing more hours and access to healthcare for our cafeteria workers, we are ensuring a better quality of life for both working families and the students they feed and serve.” The Healthy Families, Healthy Students resolution will increase cafeteria worker shifts from 3 hours to four hours or more per day. School board members Monica Garcia, Yolie Flores-Aguilar and Richard Vladovic introduced the proposal after lengthy discussions with Local 99. Board Member Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte also voted in favor of the resolution and introduced a cost-saving amendment which called for an audit of the health care rolls and designated Pacific Care as the health care provider for the workers impacted by the resolution. The teachers union and many others unions publicly supported the benefits proposal, as did Mayor Villaraigosa.

The new policies will begin to be enforced on September 4th, 2007. The Local 99 represents over 37,000 LAUSD workers, including approximately 2,900 cafeteria workers. Only 800 Local 99 cafeteria workers work over 4 hour shifts, meaning that approximately 2,100 Local 99 workers do not have health insurance.