School-Related Professionals from across the state traveled to Albany on Tuesday to speak to lawmakers and present their priorities during NYSUT’s annual SRP Lobby Day. The focus this year: One Job Should Be Enough.
“Tell them the truth,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person, addressing SRPs before they went to speak with lawmakers. “Tell them about your members. Tell them how they struggle to send their kids to college, how they struggle to pay their mortgage.”
The new campaign, first teased by NYSUT Second Vice President Ron Gross during his Representative Assembly speech, aims to support SRPs through raising wages at the bargaining table and in getting districts more resources through revenue-raising proposals.
“Sometimes I’m working three jobs,” said Suzette Robbins, a paraprofessional and member of the United Federation of Teachers. “It’s not making ends meet. Sometimes I find myself borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, and it shouldn’t be such a struggle. I’ve been doing this for 26 years, and I’m at the top salary slot. It’s still a struggle.”
Members said they were looking forward to sharing their stories with lawmakers. “I have no choice but to work my second job,” Quwanka Ellerby of the Syracuse Teachers Association recalled. “My second job is matching my pay at a job that I’ve been at 15 years. It’s coming back to choosing between paying groceries or utilities.”
Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato is one lawmaker who knows just how difficult being an SRP can be. She was a paraprofessional in New York City before being elected to the state Assembly. “Just because paraprofessionals have good hearts doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get paid for it,” Amato said. “Thank you for what you do. You hear that a lot. But get paid for it.”
Several UFT members talked about the UFT campaign RESPECT for Paraprofessionals, which held a large rally in April, and how the goals of SRP Lobby Day aligned with that campaign.
“We have to be able to set the future for the young people behind us,” said Robbins.
The problems are statewide. For SRPs at East Syracuse-Minoa, a survey of members found more than half working two or three jobs, with 10 members selling blood plasma to make ends meet. “It’s not okay,” said President Person. “When you work full time, one job should be enough.”
These lobby days make an impact. Last year’s SRP Lobby Day focused on the need for uniform statewide standards for diapering and toileting students in public schools. Months later, a new law was signed. Member stories were cited as crucial in getting the bill across the finish line. So too were member stories critical in getting public schools included in the Workplace Violence Prevention Act.
“We want to make sure that SRPs are being included in those conversations,” said NYSUT’s Ron Gross. “They were the ones who were really responsible for getting these things over the hump.”
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