SSEA member speaks out for contract

The Sewanhaka School Employees Association has been working without a contract since July 2010, and at the Sewanhaka Central High School District’s last Board of Education meeting, held March 22 at the Sewanhaka High School, a member of the group spoke out.

Carole Katz, president of the SSEA, publicly spoke to the board, during the public portion of the meeting, about her disappointment in having to work without a contract for the past several months — since their three-year contract expired July 1. Katz explained that of the nearly 125 secretarial employees within the SSEA, more than half live in the school district and pay district taxes, and several SSEA members are the “bread winners” of their families. “Many of us are single parents who are trying our hardest to put food on the table,” she said. “We all take pride in our work, and come to work with a readiness and duty.”

Katz said the SSEA is requesting a contract for several reasons, including a zero percent salary increase that the district discussed during the 2010-11 school year, which would prohibit SSE workers from receiving retro pay from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. “Our median income is in the low to mid-$40,000, and that’s for people who’ve been here for 10 to 12 years,” she said. “I am a 53-year-old woman, and I am earning just over $36,000.” Katz said she has worked in the district for six years, as a finance clerk for the New Hyde Park Memorial High School.

Another SSEA worker in the district, who asked to keep her identity anonymous, said it is imperative that SSEA workers are given salary relief. “I don’t want to come home with less money than I did before,” she said. “Obviously with inflation, we need more money now than we did.”

The SSEA is also opposed to the school district’s plans to reduce the percentage it contributes toward SSEA members' insurance premiums — which have already been increased by nearly 14.5 percent by their insurance company, Katz said.