GREENSBORO, N.C. — A compensation plan was presented to nutrition workers in Guilford County Schools following a walkout Monday in regard to their salaries.
After reviewing the compensation plan, demonstration leaders argue not much is different from the original compensation plan.
"We time and time again are told what we're going to get or do rather than being involved in the process," said Easter High School cafeteria manager Kelly Shepherd. "Once again we were left out. We would have liked for the group that went in to negotiate to have at least seen the plan before everybody."
District leaders said School Nutrition Services (SNS) assistants will receive the remainder of their 4% pay increase in the December paycheck. 2.3% of that was added to their payback in October.
Nutrition assistant Angela Rorier said the 2% raise wasn't much.
"It's like 35 cents which was like a slap in the face," Roier said.
The new wage for assistants will be $15.86 an hour compared to $12.25 per hour in 2021.
The plan includes a 4-7% salary increase for nutrition managers. Demonstration leaders said this is the only change when compared to prior plans.
Two percent of the salary increase has already been implemented for most nutrition managers. Their December paycheck will reflect the rest of the salary increase.
Cafeteria managers will make a minimum of $18.60 per hour compared to a $13.75 per hour starting pay from 2021.
GCS superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley said they've been working on this plan since the state issued 4% raises for lower-pay workers in October.
"We heard the concern and we came up with a reasonable solution," Dr. Oakely said. "Kids need to be in school and we need to feed kids in school."
Nutrition managers who serve more than 100 meals a day will qualify for a pro-rated quarterly bonus.
"We were not as interested in the bonus program as we were in getting the $20 an hour but they seem to be stuck on the bonus program," Shepherd said. "But we've got a little work to do on the assistants at this time."
More than 170 cafeteria workers held a two-and-a-half-hour Zoom meeting after the plan came out.
They expressed concerns and ultimately decided to continue to fight for better pay, with plans to call out on Tuesday.
some workers said in the meeting they'd like to see assistants get $16 an hour and managers make $20 an hour.
"We're getting closer. We're hopeful," Shepherd said. "We're disappointed things didn't pan out exactly like we hoped but that's all a part of the negotiating process."
Dr. Oakley said the district will continue to advocate for the next budget plan.
"I believe it's a reasonable solution. I do think there's more work to do but we're going to need to do it together as we move forward and how we advocate really does matter. But we also know that students deserve to be fed every day and we're committed to doing that. Within hours today we were able to deploy 200 people from other jobs to go and be hands-on in schools. We can't do that sustainably, we need our school nutrition staff," said superintendent, Dr. Whitney Oakley.
The district is making preparations to ensure we are able to provide meals to students on Tuesday and posted the following message for parents on Facebook:
Good afternoon, GCS families.
You may have heard about a walkout of cafeteria staff today as a demonstration of their concerns over pay. We understand their concerns and we value these hard-working employees. We do not know how long the walkout will last. However; the district is making preparations to ensure we are able to provide meals to students tomorrow, including reassigning central office staff, deploying pre-approved volunteers, and securing meals from qualified vendors as needed. Our top priority remains the well-being of our students. We are in conversation with our cafeteria workers to address their concerns and hope to have a resolution soon.
Thank you and have a good evening.
Although an offer has been made, the nutrition staff is expected to call out on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
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