(Host) Hartford High School library assistant Dennise Post joined other members of the Hartford school support staff when they delivered a petition to the Hartford School Board last night. Post says the petition will urge that the union contract currently being negotiated include livable wages and affordable health insurance.
(Post) “We love our students. We love working for the district. We don’t want to go elsewhere, but it is a bitter pill to swallow when we know that across the road there are teenagers or young people without families who are working at fast food restaurants who get health insurance benefits that we can’t get.”
(Host) The support staff group will hold a vigil in front of the Elementary School library. When tonight’s school board meeting is opened to the public, they will hand the school board the petition. David Twitchell is Chairman of the Hartford School Board.
(Twitchell) “I think that they have, you know, every right to present us with whatever they think is important for us to hear as we go through the deliberations.”
(Host) Contract negotiations reached an impass in January. Mediation efforts in April were unsuccessful. Further mediation efforts are expected in May. If those efforts fail, the process moves to fact-finding.