ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The Allentown School District has released its new agreement with food services workers more than two weeks after the board voted to approve the terms.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the district violated the Right to Know law because it requires government agencies to provide public access to records presented for deliberation and official action at a public meeting.
Allentown School District - Pa Joint Board Workers United Seiu Local No. 391a - 2022-2026 Agreement (1) by lehighvalleynews on Scribd
Before the Allentown School Board vote on Nov. 16, the district's food service workers had been advocating for more than a year for a new contract, coming to school board meetings this past spring to plead for a solution.
"Nobody cares about us, even though we do a lot for the students,” South Mountain Middle School kitchen helper Aliena Kates said during one meeting. “Not only do we feed them and we tried to accommodate, you know, health issues, diets and stuff like that and we still never get appreciated [for] what we do and everything we do."
Under the new agreement, middle and high school cooks' pay will have risen 26%, from $31,056 to $39,146 at the end of the last contract to the end of the new one in 2026. Elementary school cooks will see an increase of 26%, with pay going up from $31,056 in the previous contract to leveling off at $37,779 in the current one.
'Dotting the i's and crossing the t's'
Allentown Schools Superintendent Carol Birks would not answer questions on Nov. 30 at a strategic planning kickoff event for the district about why the contract was not attached to the agenda when the board voted on it before Thanksgiving.
ASD communications consultant Joe Lyons said the school board's vote was about agreeing in principle to the deal’s terms.
“They agreed to the principles of the contract,” he said. “And then it gets finalized and the documentation all gets done and filed and signed. That's when you will get a copy of it.”
But Jocelyn Lunney, associate manager of the Pennsylvania Joint Board Workers United, disputed that the school board only agreed to a set of principles.
“I’m not confused,” she said. “It's down to the word. It's very specific, it's not in principle."
The contract with Pennsylvania Joint Board Workers United Service Employees International Union Local 391A is retroactive to July 2022 and runs through June 2027. LehighValleyNews.com requested the contract on Nov. 28 and received a copy of it Dec. 1.
The school board voted on the union contract at its Nov. 16 meeting. The agenda did not include a copy of the contract or the terms of the agreement.
Melewsky said the public had the right to view the contract at the time of the meeting, and ideally before then.
“Voting on a contract where they haven't told the public what's in the contract interferes with the public's statutory right to have a voice in the decision-making process before decisions are made,” she said.
“The full document was completed before that. The only thing that was left to do, which doesn't get done until after the agreement is ratified by both parties is having to sign an actual paper copy of the document.”Jocelyn Lunney, associate manager of the Pennsylvania Joint Board Workers United
While ASD Solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik said during the November meeting the union had ratified the contract, the school board agenda said approval was “subject to solicitor and administration approval on final wording.”
Lunney said the district had a copy of the agreement with the new and final language before the board vote.
“The full document was completed before that,” she said. “The only thing that was left to do, which doesn't get done until after the agreement is ratified by both parties is having to sign an actual paper copy of the document.”
Sultanik said last week when asked about the agenda's language that the terms were final and the wording of the agenda item refers only to small changes like correcting commas and making changes to amounts by $1.
“We're just dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the documents,” he said.
Melewsky said the final language of the union contract should have been worked out before the school board voted on it.
"Ultimately, the board is supposed to authorize the terms of the contract, not say, 'will authorize the solicitor and the administrators to dot all the i's and cross all the t's,'" she said. “Voting to approve a contract where they don't actually know the terms is irresponsible.”
Lunney said the language was final before the board meeting.
"We negotiate very specific language, we present that to our union members in writing, we go through it point by point," she said. "And that's what they vote on.”
LehighValleyNews.com asked Allentown School District about the union's comments but has not received a response as of publication.
Details in the contract
According to the new agreement, middle and high school cooks' pay rose to $34,974 when the Allentown school board voted to approve it on Nov. 16. Elementary school cooks' wages went to $33,752.
Secondary school cooks will receive a raise to $37,282 on July 1, 2024, and an increase to $39,146 on July 1, 2025.
Elementary school cooks’ pay will rise to $35,980 effective July 2024 and $37,779 at the same time the next year.
Middle and high school assistant cooks started off in the contract at $26,655 and will end up at $32,130 by July 2025.
Elementary assistant cooks wages rise from $24,295 upon ratification and go to $29,459 by July 1, 2025. Assistant cooks must work an additional 30 minutes effective Jan. 1, 2024, but that will sunset on June 29, 2026.
The hourly rate for middle and high school cooks in the new agreement increased from $21.36 to $23.66 by 2025. For elementary school cooks it's $21.09 to $23.36. Helper cooks are paid $19.24 at the contract’s ratification and the rate goes to $21.31 in July 2025.
Under the previous food services union contract, a middle or high school cook's pay rose from $29,850 in 2019-20 to $30,447 in 20-21 and $31,056 in 21-22.
An elementary school cook’s salary increased from $28,820 in the first year to $29,396 in year two and $29,984 in the last year.
