Union squelched at Dist. 300 meeting

About a minute into her prepared remarks to the Community Unit District 300 school board Monday night, a union official was cut off.

Board President Joe Stevens told Laura Garza, the director of the institutional division of the Service Employees International Union's Local 1, that her remarks were not relevant to the school board.

"I truly believe that the comments tonight on Aramark are misplaced and inappropriate," Stevens said. "This isn't a public matter. ... This is an employee matter with your employer."

Garza, who planned to address the condition of Aramark employees in District 300, persisted, saying she had a right to speak, but Stevens told her to sit down.

Stevens also said the union was pursuing a "legal action" against Aramark and could not use the board meeting as a forum to make their case against the district's food service contractor.

Outside the meeting, union officials denied Stevens' charge.

"There's no litigation," Garza said. "I think he just didn't want me to speak."

What the union is doing, union officials said, is pursuing a national campaign to unionize about 100,000 Aramark employees, including roughly 2,000 in the Chicago suburbs.

Sheri Meehan, a lunchroom supervisor at Meadowdale Elementary School in Carpentersville, was allowed to speak about Aramark before Garza was cut off.

Meehan made a number of complaints about her employer. Among them:

• Many of her co-workers make near the minimum wage and can't afford health care coverage.

• Defective coolers and freezers result in food that is unsafe or unsuitable for children.

• Low staffing levels lead to long lines, shorter lunches and missed recess for students.

Meehan and union officials said the issues aren't limited to Meadowdale and said Lakewood School, as well as other schools in Carpentersville and Hampshire, have experienced similar issues.

"We're serving cold food when it should be warm, and we're serving warm milk when it should be cold," Meehan said. "I can't do my job because they don't replace the things that we need."

Union officials said Aramark workers in District 300 earn about $6,000 a year and work about 10 hours a week.

In comparison, Aramark employees in unionized districts start at about $10.15 an hour and receive health care coverage, union officials said.

The union's attempt to speak Monday was part its effort to educate suburban school boards about their unionization drive, according to Local 1 spokeswoman Erica Hade.

District 300 was the first suburban school district on the union's itinerary.