Cafeteria workers join demonstration demanding higher wages

NEWARK, N.J. — A labor group representing some of the Newark school district’s lowest earning workers rallied this afternoon to protest wages they say have failed to increase over the last five years.

Members of local Service Employees International Union chapters, including cafeteria workers, security guards and custodians claim they have been deprived of raises while top administrators receive huge salaries and even sizable bonuses.

Held outside the district’s central office on Cedar Street, union officials and others contended that the employees, many of them women and minorities, are struggling to stay above the poverty level.

“We’ve been very patient over the last five years in terms of the little people who work with the Board of Education,” said Assemblyman Tom Giblin, D-Montclair. “All they’re looking for is to kind of keep up with inflation.”

The groups also contend that some employees are being asked to work another 20 days per year with no increase to their annual pay. District officials disputed that claim, but declined to go into detail due to the ongoing negotiations.

A small number of the workers earn less than $10 per hour, according to SEIU. Some, like food service worker Teresa Tucker said she makes little more than $15,000 a year to support herself and her autistic daughter.

“There are times when I know I can’t even feed my child, so I have to beg borrow and sometimes steal for her to survive. And I think that is so unfair,” she said.

The district has fought budget problems that have forced it to lay off employees in recent years, and many of its non-instructional employees accepted a wage freeze for a portion of the five-year time period to help stave off further losses.

In a statement, Newark Public Schools Chief Talent Officer Vanessa Rodriguez said the district was