Monday, September 8, SEIU 1021 members at San Francisco’s Felton Institute Family Development Center rallied outside their workplace, calling public attention to their fight for a fair contract. 

Members of the SEIU 1021 bargaining team at San Francisco’s city-funded Felton Institute Family Development Center have been working hard at the bargaining table for a fair contract. But Felton management has been rejecting all the union’s proposals focused on giving members a stronger voice, better protections, and more rights on their job. And they have refused to budge on an insulting 1% increase, even as CEO Al Gilbert rakes in over $400,000 a year. 

Mayra de Leon, a bargaining team member who has been at Felton for two years, said, “We know we deserve more for serving the children of our community. Management claims that we don’t have high turnover, but we see already we have five open spots here at FDC. Every time August comes around, we lose 2-3 members of our teams. I’m acting lead teacher right now because of the staffing shortage.

“The experience [at the bargaining table] has been interesting. We’re trying to express to them the things that the people who work here want, and they refuse to acknowledge what people go through every day. They refuse to come here and see what it’s like to be a teacher, a janitor, or to work in the kitchen.”

“We’re fighting for a fair salary,” said Roxana Alfaro, who has worked at Felton for almost 28 years. ”Everything is getting more and more expensive, and our pay is so low. The 1% they want to give us is nothing. We can’t even buy an egg with that. We have families to feed. We want justice. We work hard, sometimes we even come in when we’re sick. We just want fair wages, nothing more or less.”

This Friday, September 12, Felton members will attend strike school at the San Francisco union hall to learn about their rights and the process for striking.