Experience Counts - A Tale of Two Complaints

Dear Education Austin sisters and brothers,

Just another reminder to vote to reelect Bruce Banner as Vice President of Classified Employees of Education Austin. You'll need to closely follow the instructions in the mail ballot and have your ballot postmarked by this Friday, May 23rd.

Experience Counts - A Tale of Two Complaints

Another reason that I can offer for your vote and support is my 8 years of experience as an officer and my 14 years experience as a dedicated unionist. The value of this experience can best be told as a story of two complaints I've handled, one at the beginning of my service as an officer and another more recently.

The first story is about the grievance I handled for a Teacher Assistant in 2000-01 who discovered he was being paid much less than a colleague who had less in-district experience than he did. I took his grievance and then had a huge research job in front of me to learn the intricacies and arcana of AISD Classified payroll and compensation systems. The grievance lasted a full school year but resulted in a $225,000 win for ALL AISD Classified who could show prior related experience. It also brought Classified Employees equal treatment with Teachers and Certified Employees by including notification of the district's experience pay system to new Classified hires.

The second story is about saving the $500 state-paid health insurance stipend for 300,000 Texas Classified Public School Employees and how the AISD administration nearly took it away from newly hired Classified Employees in Austin ISD. The experience I have gained in organizing members and leaders, in lobbying the Texas Legislature, in collaborating with our state affiliates Texas AFT and TSTA, and in working with press and media all came into play in stopping the Legislature's attempted $150 million mugging of Support Employees in Texas public schools. But once that was accomplished, the AISD administration failed to provide the $500 stipend to new Classified Employees. This was discovered completely by accident and could easily have been missed by someone without years of experience working with AISD's payroll and compensation systems.

A Bus Driver and returning member asked me one day why he was making 34 cents less per hour than two colleagues who were hired just two weeks before him. At first the discrepancy's cause was mysterious, but because of my work on implementing the $500 stipend permanently into Classified payroll, I realized that this was the same as the hourly salary increase Classifieds received when the law saving their stipend was passed by the Legislature. I brought this matter to the attention of the administration through the Consultation process, where they resisted recognizing the problem for months. Finally, after much consultation and outside work, I finally persuaded the administration that they were violating the law, had neglected to pay 400 Classified Employees their stipends, and had to adjust their salary scales UP by 34 cents. This work also resulted in an increase in the district's "Living Wage" from $9/hour to $9.50/hour and an increase in the Bus Driver starting salary from $11.50/hour to $12/hour. This was all because my experience as your Classified Vice President helped me see that one member's 34 cent/hour shortfall could become a $350,000 win for all new Classified hires.

In close, I once again ask for your vote and support to reelect Bruce Banner as Education Austin Vice President for Classified Employees.