CHRONICLE EDITORIAL: CROTON-HARMON SCHOOLS, STOP THE THUGGERY AND GIVE LOW-PAID AIDES AND LUNCH WORKERS A LIVING WAGE

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Chronicle editorial: Croton-Harmon schools, stop the thuggery and give low-paid aides and lunch workers a living wage.

After our latest report on talks between Aides of Croton United and Croton-Harmon school officials, a lawyer for the district threatened action against ACU’s president. Where are the “progressives?”

MICHAEL BALTER--MAY 31, 2024

SHOWN IN PHOTO--Board members: Omar Mayyasi, Anamika Bhatnagar, Ana Teague, Joshua Diamond, Sarah Carrier (President), Amelia Sackman (Student Ex Officio),Theo Oshiro, and Neal Haber (Vice-President).

On May 29, we reported that the negotiations between the union representing teacher’s aides and lunch workers in the three Croton-Harmon schools were not going well—at least not for these low-paid workers and their efforts to get a better contract. Earlier we wrote about the poor conditions under which these employees, whose work is so essential to the welfare of our children and the quality of their educations, are struggling to live and survive.

Shortly after our last report appeared, an attorney for the district sent a copy of the article to an official of the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), with which the Aides of Croton United (ACU) is affiliated, along with an email complaining about some comments by ACU president Jean Avolio. Avolio had told us that she was advising her colleagues to seek other jobs, given how badly the negotiations were going.

But the attorney claimed that Avolio was acting illegally by advocating something similar to a work stoppage, and he told the NYSUT official that he would be talking with the district about it. MORE AT Chronicle editorial: Croton-Harmon schools, stop the thuggery and give low-paid aides and lunch workers a living wage. (substack.com)