Talks between Merced Union High School District classified staff, administration stall

After picketing a busy Merced intersection for hours, dozens of classified staff workers flooded the Merced Union High School District board meeting Wednesday, criticizing the administration for alleged bad faith decisions, while asking the board to not approve a planned cut to a custodial position.

The school district’s classified staff, organized under the California School Employees Association, are claiming negotiations over delayed portions of a settled contract stalled because the district administration acted in bad faith by inappropriately adding permanent duties to employees and fostering a hostile work environment, according to a CSEA news release.

Classified staff includes support staff, para-educators, custodians, secretaries and food service workers, among other protected jobs.

District leaders pushed back against the union’s criticism in a brief statement issued late Wednesday.

“The district has never asked or even suggested that employees do anything more than what was agreed to in early February of this year, ratified by the CSEA later that month and approved by the Board in March,” according to a statement by the school administration.

“It’s disheartening that the CSEA has taken steps to cast the district in an unfavorable light when it has been bargaining in good faith the entire time,” the statement reads.

More work, same pay, staff says

Along with claims of a hostile work environment, CSEA cited several other examples of what they said were inappropriate requests by management, including asking untrained custodians to do electrical work and asking guidance technicians to perform accounting work, something they also aren’t trained to do.

The additional accounting duties have taken its toll on career guidance staff, according to guidance assistant Max Hernandez and career and guidance technician Virginia Zamarripa.

“The time that it takes to do (these additional tasks) is taking away from the time spent taking care of the students,” Zamarripa told the Sun-Star. “It would significantly impact how we serve students in the district.”

It wasn’t just accounting duties. The district is also adding secretarial tasks, such as scheduling meetings and ordering items, according to Hernandez.

Custodians in the district also are upset as custodial staffing haven’t kept up with a growing student body and facilities needs, according to daytime custodian Scott Roehrenbaeck.

On Wednesday, the school board voted to eliminate a custodian position at East Campus and replace that job with a part-time groundskeeper position.

“It seems like over the last five years the custodians have been getting treated worse and worse every year,” Roehrenbaeck said.

Golden Valley High groundskeeper Daron Gregston said he can’t always get to tasks that he said are essential to the upkeep of the school, such as weeding.

“They’ve built so much and there’s not the manpower to take care of it,” Gregston said.

The CSEA ratified a contract with the school district in March. But some job descriptions, including custodian, groundskeeper and career and guidance staff positions, were pulled out so classified staff could negotiate on it, CSEA chapter President Bea McCutchen said.

The MUHSD administration claims the additional duties tacked onto the job descriptions were allowed by the contract, while classified staff were under the impression the job descriptions wouldn’t be changed until negotiations settle the differences.

“These attitudes and actions by management are hurting the students served by district employees,” CSEA chapter President Bea McCutchen states in the release. “This has to stop! The district needs to let employees get back to doing the job they were hired to do.”

The negotiations have been fruitless, several classified employees said, believing the district already approved changes to those job descriptions against the spirit of their agreement.

The administration, however, maintains it’s not doing anything classified staff haven’t already agreed to.