Published: August 22, 2022
Key Takeaways
- Over 21 days, a team of organizers had conversations with food service workers at 11 cafeterias and recruited 100 new union members.
- 99% of workers did not know they had a union.
- 92% of workers' home language was Spanish.
Meet the Team
Robinson was joined by AEA Organizational Consultant Liz Leivas and organizer Ricardo Gomez.
Setting Goals
The team met on July 29, 2022, and set a goal of recruiting 100 new education support professional members in 30 days. They decided to focus on two affiliates, Phoenix Union and Cartwright Elementary.
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Phoenix Union High School District
With nearly 500 members, Phoenix Union Classified Employees Association (PUCEA) is the largest education support professional union in the state.
Induction
171 classified employees attended the annual induction event. 60 were already union members and 33 joined that day. PUCEA held 54% density in the room and increased their membership 5% overall.
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Cartwright Elementary District
Cartwright Education Association (CEA) had 47 classified members and the team had a goal of recruiting food services workers by targeting 11 of 21 district cafeterias and having conversations with these workers to identify their workplace issues.
Organizing Food Service Workers
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Issues
The team held one-on-one conversations with food service staff and found several common issues across all sites, including reports of injuries on the job, overworked, understaffed, forced to work outside of their job description, hours getting cut to cut benefits, feeling ignored, and having no voice in bargaining. In addition, Southwest Food Excellence (SFE), a private company, was engaged in union busting tactics trying to privatize the workplace.
New Members Join the Union
The team had these conversations with workers in their home language, Spanish. Talking with managers opened the door to discussions with other cafeteria managers. The team shared the $1,200 stipend CEA won and pictures of new members joining from other cafeterias. The team addressed workplace issues raised at each site and even took on the boss in front of workers to demonstrate the strength of the union.
testimonio en español
Translations:
Hello my name is Sandra Jaime and I work in the Castro Cafeteria. I am here today to become a member of the Union and my voice counts in voicing what the outside food vendors are doing to us in giving us more work, abusing us in many ways like working us through our lunch and sometimes not even allowing us to drink water and that is not right.
My name is Maria Munoz and I work at Raul Castro. I am employed to work 6 hours in the cafeteria. I became a member of this union because after working so many years I realized I and the workers never had a voice.
Goal Achieved!
In just 21 days, the team recruited 72 new members at 11 cafeterias resulting in 100% membership at those sites. CEA grew their classified members 153% to a total of 119 members!
100% Membership at 11 Sites
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