Members of the SEIU Local 1 union that work in Indian Prairie School District 204 schools as janitors, plumbers and more say they are underpaid, overworked and understaffed.
Contract negotiations have stalled between SEIU Local 1 members and Aramark, the national food and facilities services provider contracted by Indian Prairie School District, so union members asked the district’s Board of Education at its meeting on Monday to work with Aramark to get the workers higher wages.
“We have trouble affording our rent and the food that we put on our tables with these wages. You have certain employees working two jobs just to make ends meet,” Sedeale Mahone, a custodian at Crone Middle School and member of the SEIU Local 1 bargaining team, said at the meeting.
The SEIU Local 1 union represents 180 janitors, plumbers, electrical workers, engineers and more within Indian Prairie School District, according to union spokesperson Bailey Koch. She said in a phone call that the members who service the district entered into contract negotiations for their next three-year contract in June, but Aramark has so far only offered what she called low wage increases, according to Koch.
Aramark has told the union that it is unable to offer higher wages because of the district’s restrictive budget, Koch said. The company’s last and final offer, she said, was a 4% increase in the first year, a 3.5% increase the next and another 4% increase the third year for a total 11.5% increase in wages over the three years, which likely will not keep up with inflation, she said.
In comparison, some commercial janitors in the suburbs have seen contracts with 19% increases over three years, even as the industry has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Koch.
An Aramark spokesperson said in an email that the company “will continue to meet with the union in an effort to reach a new contract and we look forward to continuing to bargain in good faith to reach an agreement that works for everyone.”
Union workers under Aramark have been understaffed for months, forcing employees to work long hours and well into the night to make schools clean and safe for children, according to Mahone. He attributed the short staffing and high turnover rate to what he said were poor wages being offered.
Kelly Rose Ortego, who told the Board of Education that she is the district’s only electrician, said she is a single mother of three children, one of which has special needs.
In a prepared statement shared by Koch that Ortego did not have time to read during public comment, Ortego said she has to work two jobs just to cover her expenses.
Other Aramark employees opt for long overtime hours, according to Steve Mays. He is the head custodian at Granger Middle School and has been working in the district since 1998.
“The people that take care of your children are struggling,” Mays told the board.
Some custodians are working 12 to 16 hours a day but still don’t always make enough to cover their expenses, Mays said.
“These kinds of shifts separate our families,” he said. “Here we are taking care of other kids but without caring for our own.”
Later in the meeting, board members discussed the next school year’s roughly $435 million budget, which many described as “lean” due in part to falling state funding.
Board member Justin Karubas said that any additional increases, such as an increase to the district’s contract with Aramark, would need to come either from cuts in other areas or from new revenue, particularly from the proposed tax referendum question that could be coming in November’s election.
That proposed tax referendum question would ask taxpayers if the district could replace an existing tax set to expire in 2026 with a new tax of the same amount, resulting in no net tax increase. The current tax is going to pay off debt, while the new tax would likely act as a regular stream of revenue.
In an email on Thursday, District 204 Chief School Business Official Matt Shipley said the district’s three-year contract with Aramark was negotiated for $13,863,384 for the 2024-25 school year, for $14,272,383 for the 2025-26 school year and $14,693,675 for the 2026-27 school year. That contract, which was competitively bid and selected as the lowest responsible bidder, was approved by the Board of Education in March, he said.
“The district has had a long-term relationship with Aramark and recognizes the services provided are critical to ensuring the success our students. The district is not involved in the negotiations and expects both sides to work towards a mutually agreeable contract,” Shipley said in the email.
The SEIU Local 1 members are set to go back to the negotiating table with Aramark within the month, but if Aramark continues in its current stance, Koch said union members are “really willing to do anything” to get higher wages, including walkouts or rallies.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
