Local 790 "Why We’ll Strike"

I found this letter posted on the SEIU Local 790 web page. Since it is addressed to the public, I have to assume it's OK for me to quote most of it here. I have lots of opinions, but for now I'll just pass this along without further comentary.

The SEUI Local 790
Why We’ll Strike
An Open Letter to Parents & the Public from SEIU 790

Did you know that classified workers at the School District currently have to choose between taking a child to a doctor or putting food on the dinner table? They lack the family health benefit enjoyed by other employees of the District and the city, and have to pay the entirety of each year’s skyrocketing increase out of their own pockets. We hope you’ll agree that our children’s health coverage is more critical than lavishing perks, including a $375,000 severance package, on a School Superintendent who has already quit. [...]

The workers of San Francisco’s Unified School District have been bargaining in good faith with the District for almost a year. Like every other union in the District, we have been continuing to work without a contract. It was the district, not this union, who declared "impasse" and walked away from the negotiating table during a week in which we made five separate concessions. When Mayor Newsom offered to help facilitate an agreement, we accepted his offer and the district rejected it. When former Mayor Brown offered to do the same, we accepted his offer and the district rejected it. The district rejected every one of the mediators we suggested, at which point we accepted one chosen by them. We’ve done all we can to resolve this at the bargaining table instead of on the picket lines. [...]

To help avert a strike, please call the Board of Education (all numbers 415):
Jill Wynns: 828-7204
Norman Yee: 225-2458
Dr. Dan Kelly: 565-6810
Sarah Lipson: 793-1110
Eddie Chin: 356-2840
Mark Sanchez: 828-0029
Eric Mar: 378-5864

Remind them that working families deserve health coverage, and that those who’ve served the District for over a decade should not be classified as "temporary employees" in order to be cheated out of their health care.

--TD / SEIU 790