Clerical workers, teaching assistants say no to 6 percent raise

They have been offered the same salary increase as the teachers, but members of the Collier County Association of Office and Classroom Assistants said it’s not enough.

The union, which represents 900 clerical workers and teaching assistants, rejected the 6 percent increase presented by the Collier County School District and are asking for the 6 percent increase plus their step increase.

“This contract is not meeting our needs,” said Dottie Giles, a paraprofessional at the Collier County Juvenile Detention Center. “This is a very expensive place to live. Some of the employees’ whole pay is going to insurance.”

Under the current contract, members of the union make between $9.35 an hour and $18.15 an hour, depending on their classification and years of service.

The district has proposed upping that scale to between $9.91 an hour and $19.24 an hour, but also expanding the step scale.

The current contract has those on steps 12 to 15 and 16 to 20 getting paid the same amount. The district’s proposal would make each of those years of service their own step.

Giles said some members of the union deserve more because they have been required to get training to meet No Child Left Behind requirements. The No Child Left Behind Act mandates that any paraprofessional hired to teach in a Title I school after Jan. 8, 2002, must have an associate’s degree or have successfully passed a district-approved assessment.

“The demands are greater on us. We are meeting (the school’s) needs, but we are not being compensated for it,” she said.

Maudie Sage, president of the union and a guidance secretary at Immokalee Middle School, said the union would like to see those with four years of service, those with an associate’s degree and those with a paraprofessional degree to receive a 50 cent increase per hour in addition to the 6 percent.

“Those people had to receive training for No Child Left Behind and that caused them to spend time away from their families and pay baby sitters. There is more of a demand on their time and they should be compensated for that,” she said.

Sage said the union would also like everyone to get their step increase. The teachers, who approved their contract Monday, will not get their step increase for the 2006-07 school year.

“We have asked for bereavement leave and we asked for an insurance supplement. Both were denied. These are people who are making $14,000 to $16,000 to start,” she said. “That’s poverty level. They need more to live on.”

But while their fellow teachers will start the year with their increase, the office and classroom assistants could be starting the school year at their current salaries. Negotiations concluded Monday evening and will not resume again until Aug. 8.

“For all of the 250 day employees, their schedule is frozen,” said Sage. “We just could not get everyone together until August to resume the talks.”

Steve Fain, the negotiator for the Collier County School District, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.