Branford: Whitsons need not apply

For the past four years, I’ve been working as a lunch lady at Shelton Intermediate School in Shelton. I’ve heard from the lunch ladies in Branford that your school board is seeking a new contractor for food service in your schools. I know this story all too well, and I’m here to warn you. We went through the same process in Shelton at the end of the last school year. Ever since then, we’ve been in an uphill battle to protect our healthcare, livable wages, and the sick days and the other paid time off we need to care for ourselves and our families.

The Shelton school board chose Whitsons Culinary Group, based on Long Island, to be their new contractor and our new boss. They chose Whitsons because the company promised to save the school system money. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and had hopes that the new company would enter negotiations with us for a new contract with some regard and respect for the standard we’ve achieved in our district during the last 30 years.

However, shortly after sitting down to negotiate, it was clear that my hope was misplaced. Whitsons had decided the money they saved our board of education was going to come off our backs.

The concessions they demanded were going to take me from dignity to poverty. They proposed to hire all new employees at the minimum wage, 40 percent less than our current wages. They wanted to take back most of our holidays, sick time and vacation pay. And it didn’t stop there: they also replaced our affordable health care plan with an expensive, high deductible insurance plan.

I’m a uterine cancer survivor, and I require routine check-ups and medical attention to stay healthy. Under the new plan, I struggled to get the care I needed because of my loss in income and a

sharp increase in my out-pocket medical expenses. I faced the possibility of not being to afford both my mortgage and my cancer screening. This is a situation that no one should have to face.

Today, we’re still fighting back — we’ve won back decent health care coverage; but we have yet to settle a fair contract. Even after we’ve offered more than $150,000 in savings in a new contract, Whitsons wants to take more from me and my co-workers.

So far, it seems that your superintendent is willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of your neighbors, the 22 women who work in your school cafeterias. He doesn’t seem to think it necessary to even guarantee that they can keep their jobs, let alone keep the standards that they and their families depend on. My co-workers and I are sharing our experience to help them in any way we can.

So, I’m writing to alert you in Branford not to let your town become another victim of Whitsons. As they say, all that glitters is not gold. Whitsons may promise large savings, but those could come at devastating cost to the lowestpaid workers in the school system. Please contact your Board of Education and your superintendent and tell them that you do not want Branford to be another Shelton. Tell them that Whitsons need not apply.

Where I STAND