A year ago at this time, East Lyme school paraprofessionals, AFSCME Local 1250, had settled into a new school year and, having voted to join Council 4 in the spring of 2019, were preparing to negotiate their first-ever collective bargaining agreement with the Board of Education
Nobody foresaw COVID-19, but the pandemic didn’t stop Local 1250 and Council 4 from reaching agreement on a new three-year contract this summer.
“This contract gives us protections we didn’t have before [joining Council 4]. The union gives us a voice,” said Local 1250 President Chris Majchrzak, who works at East Lyme Middle School.
The new agreement provides East Lyme paras with annual general wage increases of 2.0%, a $3 an hour wage differential for specialized job assignments, additional sick days and holidays, and strong health insurance coverage through the Connecticut Partnership 2.0 pooling plan.
The contract also protects also two key practices that members had identified as important in their contract surveys: a cash-out for health insurance coverage and the grandfathering of an equalized and predictable pay schedule over 22 pay periods. The Board of Education wanted to do away with both of those practices.
“We were most pleased about protecting those two things,” Majchrzak said
Settling their first-ever contract in the midst of the pandemic has confirmed the value of joining a union, according to member-leaders like Maria Gonzalez, a paraprofessional at East Lyme High School. “You can’t put a dollar amount on what this contract means,” she said. “It’s about having a sense of security and representation.”
To a person, East Lyme paraprofessional said it’s been extremely stressful working through the pandemic—transitioning from at-home learning back to in-person learning, and making sure students are getting the services they deserve.
The pandemic, in fact, has demonstrated the importance of being able to discuss working conditions with the employer. That’s another benefit of unionizing, according to the East Lyme Paras Union. “We felt we had no voice before the pandemic. We needed to come together,” said Executive Board member Jennifer Adanti, a paraprofessional at Flanders Elementary.
“Working during the pandemic has been stressful,” Majchrzak added. “We love what we do. We are all about our students and we want to give them what they need.”
Council 4 Staff Representative Tricia Santos has been the bargaining unit’s advocate and spokesperson prior to and during contract negotiations. She, too, sees the contract settlement as more than an economic document. It’s the next step in a journey for respect on behalf of employees who are vital to the East Lyme school system, especially in the midst of a public health crisis.
