By Bruce Karnick
[email protected]

The SEIU Local 284 Food Service Workers Strike that started on Feb. 7 continues. Since the press conference and demonstration the union workers held on the steps of Hastings City Hall on Monday, Feb. 6, The Journal has received no communications from the union representatives despite our efforts. There have been several messages received from the school district and Superintendent Dr. Robert McDowell in that same time frame. In one of the documents received, Dr. McDowell addressed many questions from the community as well as presented real-world numbers from the district’s ‘Last, Best and Final offer’ that was given to the union on Monday, Feb. 6.

In our Feb. 9 edition, we recapped the salary portion of the final offer. Here is that recap, in terms of individual impact, the district’s final offer provides “substantial pay increases” going as high as 31.2 percent spread over two years.

-28 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit will receive a pay increase of 20 percent or higher spread over two years.

-50 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit will receive a pay increase of 15 percent or higher spread over two years.

-75 percent of the employees in the bargaining unit will receive a pay increase of 10 percent or higher spread over two years.

-Employees hired before January 1, 2023 and making $18.32 per hour or less will see a minimum pay increase of 12.6 percent spread over two years, ranging from 12.6 percent to as high as 31.2 percent depending on the employee’s date of hire and current placement on the salary schedule.

The district is also raising the starting wage from $13.85 per hour to $15.04 per hour for year one and to $15.34 per hour for year two. There are provisions in the offer related to health care, assistance with non-slip footwear and retention bonuses.

With the main disagreement around salary, the district released a chart explaining the expired contract wage scale along with the equivalent wage scale under the current proposal. The chart has five employee classifications; Class 3 works three hours per day, Class 4 and Class 5 work 5.75 hours per day, Class 8 and works seven hours per day and Class 9 works seven or eight hours per day depending on the position held. Class 9 at eight hours a day is the high school lead supervisor which is one person and Class 9 at seven hours in the assistant supervisor, again, only one person.

The chart breaks pay down by the expired contract, year one of the new offer, year two of the new offer, the two-year total of the new offer and the two-year total off the new offer plus the $1,200 retention payment.

How do the numbers stack up for each of the classes?

(Please note, each web browser interprets the data for images differently and you may need to scroll down a few extra lines to see each image. They are there, just keep scrolling.)

Without factoring in the $1,200 retention bonus, the largest percent increase for both years is 12.9 percent, and the lowest is 3.7 percent. If you count in the retention bonus, the largest increase is 31.2 percent and the lowest is 7.3%. The 7.3% is the top wage earners in Class 8.

The district also included comparison numbers for schools around the state with comparable enrollment. The schools listed are Inver Grove Heights, Richfield, Mahtomedi, South St. Paul, West St. Paul and Cambridge. The data supplied is sorted by top salaries and is for the first year of the proposed contract.

For lead cooks at both the elementary level and the secondary level, Hastings had the top pay for the expired contract period as well as the proposed contract. For cooks, Hastings falls into the middle of the pack in both the expired contract and the offered contract. For cook assistants, Hastings was in the middle of the expired contract and falls to the second from the bottom for the offered contract.

An important piece to note when looking at the comparison of pay rates for the first year of the offered contract, it does NOT include the first half of the $1,200 retention payment.

Superintendent McDowell also addressed some points made by the union.

The Union has repeatedly made comments that the district’s proposal offers only a $0.35 pay increase.  This is simply false.  The [above graphic] shows how the pay of individual Food Service employees would be impacted over two years under the district’s final proposal.

The district is including retention payments in its calculation of the percentage increase an individual employee will see in terms of compensation.  The Union is ignoring this payment when it claims the district is only offering a two percent pay increase.

The district has proposed to eliminate three steps on the current salary schedule in order to raise starting pay and increase pay for newer employees.  Again, the union is not acknowledging this aspect of the district’s proposal in its public comments, nor has it cooperated with the district’s efforts to allocate financial resources to areas where both parties agree there is a need to increase hourly rates due to overall market conditions.

The union has stated there are employees making as little as $12 an hour.  This is another false statement.  As you can see in the attached summary document, the actual hourly rates of the Food Service group range from $13.85 per hour to $27.28 per hour.  Many employees still have room to grow in terms of hourly compensation because they have not reached the top of the salary schedule based on years of service.

The union’s statements to the public and media have not acknowledged that many of the employees in the bargaining unit have not reached top pay on the salary schedule and are eligible for step increases that will increase their hourly compensation.  As noted in the attached summary document, individuals who are currently making $13.85 an hour will see their hourly pay increased by a total of $1.84 an hour under the district’s proposal.  This means that, by July 1, 2023, all current Food Service employees would be making at least $15.69 per hour under the district’s last, best and final offer.

The union has not offered any comparison data to justify its wage proposal.  The district’s last, best and final offer is based on what other district employee groups have accepted during recent negotiations and data the district has collected in terms of what neighboring school districts pay similar positions.

The district office has also received questions about striking employees health insurance. In a document received by the Journal dated 1-26-23. The memo was given to all food service workers and it outlined a variety of questions that employees could have prior to the strike. The memo described access to the building and / or district resources, that picketing is not allowed on school property, and it touched on pay and benefits as well as a few other topics. That document is included at the end of this story.

Striking employees will not receive pay from the district while they are on strike, including for any holidays, school closures, etc., and they will not be approved to use any form of paid leave while on strike.

The timing and duration of a strike will impact how benefits will be affected for striking employees. The district will issue COBRA notices to employees who participate in a strike because participation in a strike is effectively a reduction in hours that will impact eligibility for benefits.

The district has begun issuing the COBRA notices to employees which lead to the assumption that the school district had begun firing the striking employees, forcing an additional press release from the superintendent.

“Striking workers are not entitled to continue receiving pay and benefits from the district while they are on strike.  The district did send COBRA information last week to provide notification that employees would lose coverage, beginning March 1, 2023, through the district while they are on strike.  The union was aware the district would be sending out COBRA notices.  The purpose of the COBRA notices was to notify striking employees who are receiving health insurance coverage through the district that not working due to a strike means they are not eligible to continue receiving district health insurance benefits and to advise them of their right to continue coverage at their own expense as provided by law. [The Q&A memo mentioned above explained the COBRA process as described above and can be found at the end of this story.]  This document was shared with the Food Service group on January 26, 2023, so it should not have been a surprise to any of them that the district sent out COBRA notices last week. I am aware that the union is suggesting today that the district has “fired” striking workers.  That claim is simply false.  As to the union’s claims today that the district is attempting to “intimidate” striking workers, the district’s response is that it is not intimidation to notify striking workers that going on strike will affect their benefits and to provide them with information about how to continue coverage at their own expense,” explained Superintendent McDowell in his email statement.

As stated at the start of this story, The Journal did reach out to Hal Goezt, the union representative that has been negotiating with the district for comment, and as of Thursday, Feb 16 at 5:45 p.m., there was still no response.

Below are the additional documents that were sent at the time of the ‘Last, Best and Final offer’ that was given to the union on Monday, February 6th and an earlier date when the intent to strike was announced.