Paying rent on time, stocking the fridge without anxiety, throwing a quinceañera — these things may seem mundane, but they make a world of difference to workers at the Los Angeles Unified School District who are enjoying the fruits of hard-won pay raises.
Six months ago SEIU Local 99, the union representing 30,000 service workers at LAUSD, staged a three-day strike that shuttered the district and resulted in significant pay bumps and longer hours.
The union’s membership is composed of the lowest paid staff at the school district including bus drivers, food service workers, instructional aides, custodians and special education assistants.
“With the economy going so high, we needed this raise,” said Yadira Martinez, a special education assistant who lives in Huntington Park. “I mean, literally, we were going to live in poverty.”
Prior to the strike the average member salary was $25,000 with many members working part-time hours. One in three members had experienced homelessness or were at risk of becoming homeless, while one in four were experiencing food instability, according to an SEIU survey.
The agreement reached at the end of the strike represents an approximate 30% pay raise over time and brings the district’s minimum wage of $16.91 an hour to $22.53. Workers saw an approximate 13% immediate pay raise as a result of the agreement, received an additional 7% raise on July 1 and are looking forward to another $2 an hour bump in January.
“This victory came right on time because the cost of living we are having right now is very crazy,” said Rhina Matteson, a food service worker who lives in Mission Hills. “It’s hard to afford a hamburger on the weekends because everything is so expensive.”
Matteson has worked at LAUSD for over 20 years, but said the last several years have been extremely hard as wages stagnated while inflation skyrocketed.
Prior to the strike she couldn’t participate in most social outings, because her bank…
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