Paraeducator Applauded for Her Local's Fight Against Outsourcing - NEA Today

Paraeducator Applauded for Her Local's Fight Against Outsourcing - NEA Today:

Paraeducator Applauded for Her Local’s Fight Against Outsourcing

Thousands of social justice advocates, grassroots organizers, bloggers, and other activists gathered for three days recently in Phoenix, Ariz., for Netroots Nation, an annual conference widely considered to be the nation’s largest gathering of progressives.



In addition to discussing immigration policy, income inequality, same-sex marriage, gun violence, and racial relations, attendees learned from paraeducator Marla Lipkin about her local’s anti-privatization campaign that saved 300 education support professional (ESP) jobs.



As a panelist, Lipkin, president of the Pennsbury Educational Support Professionals Association (PESPA) in Pennsylvania, explained how her local of 650 members was able to get organized, mobilize community members, identify business allies, work with the media, and emerge victorious without losing a single job position.



“Having the opportunity to attend Netroots and speak to other activists assures me that we are not alone in this [anti-privatization] fight,” Lipkin told attendees. “But we must keep telling our stories to raise awareness.”



Privatization, also known as “outsourcing” and “contracting out,” means transferring the work of public school and other public sector employees to the private sector. For parents and the community, privatization is a threat to the health and safety of students. For ESPs, privatization is another word for “fired!”



“I see more and more locals across the country facing the threat of privatization,” Lipkin told the gathering. “Our former school board was led by someone who wanted to destroy our union. He ran on the platform of not raising taxes. In order to do that, savings had to be found.”



Firing school support staff was identified as a means to cut costs. Once the school district started to consider outsourcing ESP jobs, PESPA’s paraeducators, bus drivers, clerical staff, custodial workers, information technology staff, and maintenance workers immediately organized a ground game.



“We knew we needed our community’s support to combat this threat,” Lipkin said.



PESPA members turned to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to get the word out. They also created a website with photos of members in action, job classification descriptions, information on why privatization doesn’t work, and school board member contact information. There was also a direct link to PESPA’s petition, which asked community members to object to privatization. A Web page was also created to thank business owners for displaying posters in shop windows and restaurants.



“We also encouraged our union members to support those businesses,” said Paraeducator Applauded for Her Local's Fight Against Outsourcing - NEA Today: