GREENSBORO, N.C. — UPDATE: An offer has been made regarding nutrition worker pay in Guilford County Schools and GCS nutrition workers have voted to call out again on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
As Guilford County school's nutrition staff take a stance, school system leaders are coming up with a proposed resolution to their low pay concerns, said a demonstration leader.
Monday morning, some Guilford County School employees called out of work over concerns about their pay.
The nutrition workers said the pay they receive is not enough.
So far, the school system has posted to social media, saying in part "Our top priority is the well-being of our students, and we want to assure everyone that students will be served meals today."
According to a phone call to parents from school administrators, they are aware and have been working to resolve the issues workers have.
We spoke with Eastern Guilford High School cafeteria manager Kelly Shepherd who said he's been with the district for over 12 years and his pay is not reflective of it.
Shepherd said Eastern Guilford High School is the only school in the district that does not have pay steps which is based on years of service an employee has.
Now, Shepherd said GCS has been in negotiations with nutrition workers, offering incentives like manager's bonus programs every quarter.
Recently, the state budget included raises for state employees. However, Shepherd said nutrition staff were not included in that raise.
As a result, Sheperd said they did receive a 2% increase allocated from the school board which equates to $0.35 an hour.
The school system said while the state issued a 4% increase in pay for classified workers back in October, school nutrition staff were not included in that because SNS operates as an independent, self-sustaining enterprise.
On Monday, as the crowd chanted, demonstration leaders went into the administration building where they said they had a conversation with the superintendent.
During the conversations, leaders said the school system admitted they are struggling to feed students Monday without staff.
Also, during the conversation leaders say the school system promised to deliver a statement in writing by 4 p.m. Monday. If the nutrition staff are satisfied with the written resolution, they said they will return to work Tuesday, if not, demonstrations will continue.
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