Lunchroom staff in Duval County Public Schools could be walking off their jobs soon. After contract negotiations between members of AFSCME local 2941 and the food service company, Chartwells K12, have not yet made an agreement.
These unions workers are paid $13 an hour, minimum wage, and are seeking more money.
Workers with the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employe (AFSCME) are asking the company to "live up to the 2022 state law" that says to pay all public school employees at least $15 an hour."
They're asking for starting pay to be a dollar more and a 3% increase for existing employees.
Employees also say they "suffer from chronic understaffing in schools, increased workload with a lack of retention of quality staff due to low wages and lack of benefits that traditional school district employees enjoy. The lack of a respectable wage leads to increased turnover of food service staff, which in turn contributes to diminished services to school children, teachers and staff."
First Coast News reached out to Chartwells K12 on the matter. They sent this statement:
“We deeply value our team members serving students and staff at Duval County Public Schools and have a long history of listening to our employees and working productively with AFSCME Local 2941 and with unions across the country.
We have had very productive conversations with AFSCME Local 2941over the past several months and look forward to partnering with them to continue to provide a very competitive and fair agreement that reiterates how much we care for and value our employees. We continue to negotiate in good faith and our next bargaining session is scheduled for this Wednesday when everyone agreed it was best to get back together.
Every day, our team is committed to serve DCPS students great-tasting meals and it is our expectation that this will continue.”
We reached out to the school district who sent this statement:
“Chartwells is a vendor under contract with the district. We have every expectation that they will fulfill the requirements of their contract.”
If an agreement can not be reached, workers have talked about potentially going on strike.
These workers will be holding a press conference in Drew Park on 1 p.m. Monday, right across the street from Chartwells K12 on Knights Lane.