Camarillo : School Workers Vote to Form Union

Maintenance workers, bus drivers and other non-teaching employees of the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District in Camarillo have voted to form a union and begin contract negotiations with the district.

By a ratio of 3-to-1, more than 50 district employees voted this week to form a chapter of the Service Employees International Union, Local 998, also known as the Public Employees Assn. of Ventura County. The union would represent them in salary and benefit negotiations with district officials, said Barry L. Hammitt, executive director of the union’s local branch.

The workers, who represent about one-third of the district’s non-teaching employees, belonged to a different union until four years ago, when they voted to decertify and disband, officials said.

A year ago, some district employees petitioned the state Public Employees Relations Board requesting an election on rejoining a union, Hammitt said. The employees are concerned about salaries, medical benefits, work schedules and an increasing workload because of the growing number of students in the 6,500-student district, he said.

District officials challenged the election petition on the basis that the new union would represent only some of the non-teaching employees and that it could create salary and job disparities between them and other classified employees, said Assistant Supt. Howard Hamilton.

“Our stance was and continues to be that we would prefer one union representing all classified employees,” he said.

But the state employee relations board ruled in favor of holding an election. The district could appeal the decision but does not plan to do so, Hamilton said.

The vote must be certified by the union’s state officials later this month before it becomes official, Hammitt said.

Last year, teachers in the Pleasant Valley Education Assn. were embroiled in a bitter, prolonged contract dispute with the district over salaries and benefits. After five months of negotiations, during which teachers staged a one-day walkout, the two sides settled last spring.