On the morning of July 19, 2006, members of the East Williston Custodial Unit reported for work and discovered that the storm the night before had devastated the Wheatley High School grounds. There were downed trees all over, and the school had no electricity.

With the summer recreation program due to start in two hours, the custodial and grounds staff sprang into action. The grounds department, maintenance crew and building personnel pitched in and had the grounds cleaned up enough to get the young campers in safely.

Then all the food in the walk-in freezer had to be moved to another building. Again, due to the efforts of the grounds and maintenance departments, all the food was moved to a neighboring school for safe storage. After all this, the workers had only half a day to do their regularly scheduled work. This hard-working group is the same one that hasn't had a raise of a fair contract in more than a year, and is fighting the East Williston School District's demands for givebacks.

The school district is also seeking to end the overtime East Williston workers earn, based on the contract that was negotiated in good faith and approved by prior school boards. The workers don't create the overtime. Rather, it is the result of serious understaffing and poor management on the district's behalf.

Any overtime performed by CSEA members actually saves the district money, because outside services would cost twice as much. In transportation alone, CSEA members have saved at least $172,000 a year by handling athletic trips and field trips in house, rather than forcing the district to charter outside bus transportation.

When bus drivers aren't on the road, they work in a school building cleaning, delivering food, mail or performing errands for the district. This is a win-win situation for the workers, the school board, the residents and most of all, the children.

The CSEA members working in the East Williston School District go above and beyond for the residents and children every day. The workers deserve respect and fair treatment by their employer. To that end, I would urge the district to bargain in good faith.

After all, don't we want to teach our children that hard work and fair play will be rewarded?

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