NK Support Staff Votes No Confidence in Supt., Comm.
North Kingstown Education Support Professionals (NKESP) – who have been battered over the last few months by the town’s school committee and Superintendent Phil Auger – took overwhelming votes of “no confidence” in the leadership both have provided for the school district. Our local union of teacher assistants, clerks, food service workers, mini-bus drivers, bus [...]
North Kingstown School Committee Silences Crowd
About 300 people packed the North Kingstown High School auditorium for the school committee meeting, many of whom planned to address committee members about their decision to outsource custodians’ jobs to an out-of-state company. And if you think they were upset at the beginning of the meeting when Dick Welch made a motion to move [...]
VIDEO: Labor Strike Cancels School in North Kingstown
North Kingstown cancelled school today as a result of all school personnel striking in solidarity with the custodians whose jobs were outsourced to a private company earlier this summer. About 70 school employees marched and formed a picket line in front of North Kingstown High School this morning, and plan to rally again tonight at [...]
NK School Committeeman Cries Foul On Outsourcing
North Kingstown School Committee member Bill Mudge said the school committee and superintendent have not negotiated in good faith with the custodians and its union and said at “Tuesday night’s meeting I will request a vote of the entire S/C to hold a special/open meeting to consider the unions June 26, 2012 proposal” in an [...]
NK Teachers Won’t Cross Custodian Picket Line
North Kingstown public school teachers voted unanimously this afternoon to stand in solidarity with their fellow workers who plan a strike Tuesday for the first day of school to fight for fair wages for school custodians. Mary Barden, a middle school social studies teacher who is president of the local teachers’ union said the members [...]
NEA-RI President Purtill On NK Strike Possibility
Larry Purtill, president of the NEA-RI, issued a statement about the possibility of a labor strike at North Kingstown public schools if the School Committee there declines to nullify a contract with a private company that resulted in the 26 custodians being outsourced and getting an average salary cut of $13,000. Here’s his statement: The [...]
Labor Strike Could Delay School Start in NK
Summer break might be extended in North Kingstown as school staff is considering striking to fight for school custodians whose jobs were outsourced to a private corporation earlier this summer. “At this time it is unclear if school will open on time,” said Pat Crowley, an official with the National Education Association of Rhode Island, [...]
Union Grievance Filed Against NK Outsource Co.
The SEIU filed a grievance against the private sector custodial business hoping to ink a deal with the North Kingstown School Committee. The union says the company violated their New England-wide contract when it failed to apprise them of the deal it entered with the school district. According to the grievance, GSA, the outsource company, [...]
Why In-House Custodians Matter to Residents
It’s a growing trend among the anti-organized labor movement and those who worship at the church of small government: fire public school custodians and outsource their jobs to Corporate America. North Kingstown is the latest town to consider this very draconian move but other local municipalities have as well, such as East Greenwich and Portsmouth [...]
NK School Custodians Fight to Save Their Jobs
NORTH KINGSTOWN — Custodians, teachers and other union members from around Rhode Island rallied at the school department here in an attempt to save the jobs of the school custodians whose jobs are in imminent danger of being outsourced to a private company from Tennessee. The custodians and their union representatives say they have met [...]
Progress Report: Custodial Politics in NK, Cicilline Raises More Money, Voter ID Laws Hurt More than They Help
Nothing riles up the suburbs quite like when local leaders threaten to outsource the janitorial staff at the schools, and such seems the case in North Kingstown where 26 custodians are in danger of losing their jobs to privatization. Don’t believe me? Just check out the comments on North Kingstown Patch this morning: one side [...]
RI Progress Report: How To Avoid School Suspensions
It turns out the easiest way to avoid discipline at local high schools is to be white. Non-white students at urban Rhode Island high schools are more likely to get in trouble than their white counterparts, reports RINPR’s Elizabeth Harrison, even as they make up a much smaller percentage of the student body. In Cranston, [...]
New Comments