“Safety must be our priority in resolving this issue.”
Waukegan, IL – The support staff in Waukegan District 60 have officially filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board after getting no resolution from the Waukegan school board and administration.
This charge arises from District 60 administration directing school secretaries to cover the staffing of security vestibules in school buildings, without first engaging in good faith bargaining with the union about the change, which violates state labor law. The secretarial support staff – members of Waukegan Professional Support Staff (WPSS, IFT Local 504) – are concerned about both school safety and their workload along with the fact that changes like this require bargaining with their union.
WPSS President Linda Unda spoke out at the school board meeting last night and highlighted the numerous issues with this new change and how it affects their service to parents, students, teachers, and other staff if they must be away from their desks to cover security work, saying, “Our staff are exceptional at their jobs, but this is not work that we were hired or trained to do. And that makes us concerned not only for ourselves, but for our students and anyone else in our school buildings. Safety must be our priority in resolving this issue.”
The union has reached out to the district numerous times for information, clarification, and to bargain the details about this new job assignment. Access to files and equipment, ensuring parent and student daily needs are met, workload coverage, and keeping Waukegan schools safe are all items that should be discussed and negotiated. However, the district administration and board have failed to follow the law to arrive at a fair and safe resolution.
“At this point, it’s just disrespectful,” said Maggie Powers, WPSS treasurer. “The district is trying to solve a security staffing problem by directing secretarial support staff to do their work. However, they are doing so without going through the proper channels, without using trained security staff for this work, and without thinking about the consequences. We hope that filing this paperwork will push them to collaborate with us in a meaningful way that respects our building secretaries’ regular operational duties, which have never included being security officials.”
Once an Unfair Labor Practice is filed, it will be reviewed by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board within several weeks and a judgment will be issued after the parties have had the opportunity to present their positions to the board.
The Waukegan Professional Support Staff Council represents 130 secretaries, specialists, and computer technicians in Waukegan School District 60. They are a council within the Lake County Federation of Teachers (Local 504) and affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers.
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