Meet Donna Abplanalp, a teacher aide in Sullivan West School District. She offers extra support for special-needs students in general education classrooms, assists teaching staff and helps out with the dreaded cafeteria duty. She was hired earlier this year — with five years of experience — for $12,990.

Mary Ann Bynes, a 25-year teacher aide in Vestal, makes less than $16,000 a year. "I've got a second job just so I can make ends meet. I know many others do, too," Bynes said. "I'm at the age where I should be able to think about retiring, but I don't see that happening any time soon."

For too many School-Related Professionals around the state, the career ladder is rickety and missing rungs. In Vestal, a Binghamton suburb, almost 90 percent of the 170 aides and monitors of the Association of Vestal Support Professionals make less than $10.10 an hour.

"We have paraprofessionals in our district who cannot pay their bills and feed their families on our wages," said Mary Ann Galati-Grate, president of the Association of Vestal Support Professionals. "Some have to work two or three jobs." Others have applied for public assistance, used food pantries and have their children qualify for reduced or free lunch.

"It really is a choice between putting milk on the table or gas in the car to go to work," said Sandra Carner-Shafran, a NYSUT Board member and teaching assistant at Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES. "The national economic downturn has made the situation even more critical," said Carner-Shafran, a member of Saratoga-Adirondack BOCES Employees Association.

When Shelvy Young Abrams first began working as a classroom paraprofessional in New York City in the late 1960s, she earned $1.50 an hour. As the mother of two young children, "I had a hard time making ends meet," she recalled.

She went on to become a union activist, helping to organize paras as members of the United Federation of Teachers. "As the pay went up, I felt proud," she said. "But for too many SRPs, it's still an issue of whether to pay the rent or buy food."

Abrams is a leader in the union's continued push for a living wage for all paras. She heads the UFT Paraprofessional Chapter of more than 18,000 members, is a member of the NYSUT Board of Directors and a vice president of the American Federation of Teachers. She sees continued union activism as "vital" in the fight for a living wage.

"SRPs need to get active, lobby their politicians and let them know about the hard work we do," said Abrams. "The work paras do in the classroom is important work, deserving of a fair wage."

Securing a living wage and access to affordable health care for SRPs is front and center on NYSUT's agenda. After years of tackling the issue local by local, the statewide union is looking at a broader, more strategic approach, including a possible SRP Living Wage Campaign in selected communities. NYSUT represents more than 90,000 SRPs, including teaching assistants, teacher aides, security personnel, school secretaries, paraprofessionals, food service workers, health aides, transportation workers and custodial and maintenance workers.

At NYSUT's Representative Assembly earlier this year, delegates unanimously approved a resolution calling for NYSUT to raise awareness on the issue and work with local, state and national groups to help get SRPs the wages and health care they deserve. A NYSUT work group is researching the issue, which will be discussed at the union's statewide SRP Conference Sept. 26-28.

"Getting a fair shake from a misguided district is often a tough fight," said NYSUT Vice President Kathleen Donahue, who oversees SRP issues for the statewide union. "That's why we have identified this as an organizational priority in the coming year."

Together with its locals, Donahue said, NYSUT is determined to raise the standard of living for SRPs around the state.

What's a living wage? It's what it takes to cover basic needs — food, housing, clothing, transportation and health and child care. It's what it takes to survive with dignity, on one job, without government or family assistance.

Donahue said the union has identified several winning tactics to make gains. "We've seen that clear priorities, involved members and community outreach are a powerful mix," she said. "Together with the support and resources of NYSUT, we can produce positive results."

Over the summer, the AFT delegates called for the national union to offer training and support legislative initiatives that respond to the need for a living wage and access to affordable health care. NYSUT's other national affiliate, the National Education Association, offers many resources aimed at making the case for a living wage.

Breakthrough campaigns

Several years ago, the 200 members of the Ithaca Paraprofessionals Association decided they'd had enough of having too little. SRPs in this pricey college town were tired of seeing members on public assistance, visiting local food banks between paychecks and losing dedicated educators to better-paying jobs at supermarkets and big-box stores.

They succeeded through a grueling two-year fight that built tremendous community and labor support for their "living wage" contract campaign. More than 50 unions, school and community groups marched in their support. The IPA finally won a contract with double-digit pay raises.

Debbie Minnick, the former IPA president and now an NEA staff member working on living wage issues, says local unions need to tell their stories to the community.
"When communities find out there are school employees living in poverty, they want to change that," she said.

The SRP unit in Baldwinsville, a Syracuse suburb, tells a similar story. With more than 60 percent of the local's 225 members living below the poverty line, President Lynn Romanick and leaders of the Baldwinsville Educational Support Professionals Association took a stand. BESPA represents clerical staff, paraeducators and school nurses.

After negotiations with the district came to a standstill, they began a new series of tactics to publicize their struggle. They reached out to parents and community members, who wrote letters of support to local papers and spoke at school board meetings. They paid for a banner celebrating their work and hung it across the main street of the business district. They rallied and picketed, with lots of help from the teachers' local union.

Finally, after a two-year pressure campaign, the district offered a new contract that included a 4.65 percent salary increase in each of three years. With added longevity stipends, some members saw as much as a 40 percent increase in their overall salary.
Clerical staff received a paid lunch, adding another 5 percent to their increase. Those gains brought members a better standard of living and rejuvenated the local as more members volunteered to get involved in the union.

More recently, the SRP local in Norwich won a hard-fought contract, using many of the tactics used by other campaigns. They had an effective community outreach, including lawn signs supporting their contract fight. (See related article)

Vestal SRPs, whose contract expired more than a year ago, are taking a page from the playbooks of the Ithaca, Baldwinsville and Norwich campaigns. In planning meetings this summer, local leaders and members discussed working together. They intend to tell their story to the community, build support among parents and other district employees and keep the spotlight on the school board.

Ellis Woods, president of the Buffalo Education Support Team, applauds NYSUT's sharper focus on SRP contract issues. "Our union will use the power of our membership to get attention and action on this important issue," he said. "SRPs are taxpayers, community leaders, mothers and fathers, all paying the same high prices as everyone else. When we win decent wages, our entire community benefits."

- Sylvia Saunders and Bernie Mulligan