Moses Lake school employees vote to strike

Strike approved, but not planned

MOSES LAKE - Classified staff in the Moses Lake School District voted Wednesday to authorize Public School Employees union leaders to strike.

Union Spokesperson Rick Chisa said the union has no immediate plan to strike.

"We want to go back to the bargaining table and give the district administration the opportunity to resolve the differences, and if a settlement cannot be reached, then we really don't have any choice but to go out on strike," Chisa said.

The Public School Employees union and district administration are in negotiations over contract issues involving salaries and health insurance. The entities met for more than 12 hours Nov. 3 to discuss the contract, but no agreement was reached.

The union and district had a tentative agreement for a new contract last July, but the Public School Employees union did not ratify the agreement. Their old contract expired at the end of August.

Chisa said close to 300 classified employees met at Frontier Middle School Tuesday night. A vote was taken, overwhelmingly in support of authorizing a strike, he said.

Employees voted after the union's legal counsel explained the way a strike works, the risks involved and the lack of a guarantee any specific outcome could result.

Employees who work year-round could lose income from the strike during strike days, yet they still voted to authorize it, he said.

"They really felt that they had to take a stand," Chisa said.

According to Rosemary Trowbridge, co-president of the Public School Employees union Moses Lake Chapter, 412 school employees are impacted by the contract.

The Public School Employees Web site lists classified staff as including paraeducators, campus security, technology positions, transportation personnel, secretaries, maintenance and grounds workers, custodians and food-service employees.