Speech to Rochester Board of Education

(BENTE/AFSCME Local 2419)

Speech to the Board of Education
Rochester City School District

Written & Presented by:
Daniel DiClemente, President
BENTE/AFSCME Local 2419

On behalf of the members of BENTE/AFSCME Local 2419, we extend our congratulations to Dr. William Cala as the new Interim Superintendent of Schools, and it is our hope that he will continue the tradition of working in collaboration with the unions to the benefit of the students, the staff and the community.

My name is Dan DiClemente, and I represent the 1,443 support staff workers that Commissioner Elliott publicly referred to as selfish, greedy, irresponsible, suburbanites, at the March 28^th Board meeting when she voted “absolutely no”, on the BENTE contract.

Selfish, because a food service worker with two kids making $7.56 an hour, has the audacity to ask this Board to raise her annual income to $6,000 – or $9,000 less than the stipend that Commissioner Elliott is getting from taxpayers like her. Greedy, because a cleaner with grandchildren who attend city schools would like to increase his income a whopping $6.40 a week. Irresponsible, because a workforce who feeds, cleans, protects, transports, supports and supplies children with a safe learning environment, has the gall to ask for a raise that will be swallowed whole, by the rising cost of gas or bus fare for their daily commute.

In the sixteen months you have served on this Board, I’ve watched you deny positive workplace training for BENTE members provided by ROOTS, go out of your way to say absolutely no to our contract, voted down hirings, promotions and leaves of absences, degrade clerical staff in editorials, and make statements that are completely void of any fact, substance, or reality. All in the name of children.

Three quarters of our members live in the city, yet you venture to say that many of them don’t, and all of us spend money to support businesses in this community. I’ve lived in the city while working as a dishwasher in Greece and I’ve lived in Greece and worked as a cleaner at Jefferson and if it’s one thing I’ve learned, when it comes to mopping floors and cleaning toilets, we all use the same chemicals.

Our membership would like to thank President Garcia, Vice President Evans, Commissioner Powell, Commissioner Brennan, and Commissioner White, for recognizing that the raises and benefits that they approve for BENTE members keep more families out of poverty, and less children in despair. By voting yes on our contract, you clearly understand and appreciate that our members perform services that are vital to the success of students, and the overall operation of the schools.

One cannot claim to support children without supporting the mothers that gave birth to them, without admiring the adults that shape their lives, the workers who make sure that they’re fed, that they’re brought to school safe, that they’re greeted with a smile in the morning and taught to be respectful of everyone, no matter what they do, or how they look, or where they come from. And if respecting your elders is a principle that the District wishes to instill in these students, then it begins with this Board being respectful of the employees who work in the environment they learn in.

Raising the standard of living for BENTE members supports working families – and believe it or not, that includes children, Commissioner Elliott. And if you’re not willing to set the example and realize that without our workforce this District wouldn’t even be able to tie its own shoes, then the 75% of our members who do happen to live in the city, when they are asked to come out and support your re-election in 2009 will vote the same way that you voted when you were asked to support them: “absolutely no”.