Page 2 - Work Force October 2020

Photo of the Month
Yonkers School workers fight involuntary furloughs
From left, Central Region Veterans Committee members Paul Jones, Central Region 2nd Vice President Tim Backus, Rosemary Jones, committee Chair Lynn May and Dave Morgan, serving as an honor guard for the region’s observance of Workers Memorial Day, reflect in a moment of silence in honor of workers who lost their lives on the job, to COVID-19, and the September 11 attacks. The recent ceremony had been postponed from earlier this year, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height in New York. For the past 11 years, the region’s Safety and Health Committee has planted a tree in counties throughout the region as a living memorial to fallen workers. This year’s ceremony took place in Madison County. (Photo by Nicholas Newcomb)
YONKERS — After management furloughed 414 CSEA-represented bus monitors, members from the Yonkers School District Unit rallied Sept. 9 to protest cuts unit leaders said target the district’s lowest paid workers.
Several dozen participants, wearing masks, rallied outside district offices in downtown Yonkers. The district said the three-week period of furloughs were due to school buildings being closed until Oct. 5, but speakers at the rally
said the furloughs offer the district minimal savings while making it difficult for workers to pay their bills.
“I am heartbroken; I am angry,” said Yonkers School District Unit President Dulani Turner. “We are tired of people who make $100,000
or more, a quarter million dollars or more, deciding the fate of those who barely make ends meet.”
Yonkers School District Unit 2nd Vice President Yvonne Couto, a bus monitor, said it wasn’t long ago that these same monitors received praise from district leaders for taking care of students into the early morning hours when afternoon buses became stranded across the city during a blizzard.
“We have to figure out how to
feed our families and how we’re going to pay rent in October,” said Couto. “If [management] cared, they would have said, let’s take care of the lowest paid people so they’re not worried about how they’re going to feed their families.”
— Jessica Ladlee
Respond to the census
Time is running out to respond to the 2020 U.S. Census, with the count due to end soon.
CSEA urges you to respond today online, by phone or mail. Census takers have been following up
with households that haven’t yet responded.
It’s crucial
that we get an
accurate response
to the census, as
hundreds of millions
of dollars in funding for
public services and programs are at stake, including those for
essential services that CSEA members provide.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and our
ongoing fight to save public services, an accurate count is
more important than ever.
As this edition went to press, the
response rate in New York totaled
82 percent, with 61.4 percent self
responding and the remainder responding in a
follow-up. New York ranked 36th among U.S. states and territories.
Yonkers School District Unit President Dulani Turner fires up participants in a rally the unit held to protest the district furloughing 414 bus monitors. At left is Westchester County Local President Lionel Turner. At right is Southern Region President Anthony Adamo.
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2 The Work Force
October 2020