Another School Board Meeting, Another Union Rally To Protest Lack of New Contracts

Protests from School District 622 teachers about their lack of new contracts have become a regular occurrence at school board meetings, and Tuesday, April 17, was no exception.

Union supporters held an outdoor rally before the school board meeting and gave impassioned speeches during the meeting’s public comment portion.

“I’m kind of hearing a theme here tonight,” said teacher and North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale Education Association officer Dennis Fendt. “’Let’s get it done,’ seems to be the theme. Let’s show an urgency.”

The teachers contract expired June 30 of last year, he said.

Six union supporters spoke, as well as one supporter of the school board.

Here are some of their comments:

 “Yeah, they love their profession, they’re committed to their profession, and I’ve been to enough of these school board meetings and there’s no way any of these people should make less than they did five years ago.”

 —Gordy Fritsche, a 60-year resident in the district who is a past school board member

“We don’t see movies anymore. Once in awhile we’ll go rent a Redbox. … It’s really embarrassing … I had to give up my home garbage … and I find at the gas stations or something like that to throw our garbage away. That’s very degrading to me. I cried and cried and cried, because I thought, ‘I’m 52 years old and I’m going backwards.’”

—Trude Petersen, a part-time bus driver for School District 622, on how she dealt with not getting a raise while prices on things like groceries increased

“I appreciate our teachers and our facilities, there’s no question about it, but we’ve had to do much less, with not the kind of income that we had been used to for the past couple of years and I don’t see anything changing for our family … I think as a country we have to realize that we’ve been very spoiled for a long time. … I appreciate you holding the line right now.”

—Vicky Weinberg, a district resident speaking in favor of the school board

“You need to say, 'Hey listen, these people deserve a decent way of life and a raise.' … If we don’t have this thing done by Thursday, I’m going to ask to meet every one of you.”

—Bobby Kasper, President of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, to the school board members

“We have worked with an expired contract for well over nine months. During all this time, our teachers have been falling further and further behind. Some have lost their homes, some have downsized, some have cut every single thing from their personal budget that can be cut out.”

—Rory Sanders, North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale Education Association president