Newton School Committee reaches agreement with lunch

services union

Wicked Local staff file photo by Keith E. Jacobson

Lunch attendants at the Angier School and the time that they have worked there are(L to R) Helen Mastrianni, 15
years, Anna To, 7 years, Debbie Mucciarone, 17 years, Blanche Mucciarone, about 35 years, Flo Carlino, 12 years,
and Marcia Cooper, 7 months. 2009.

Newton — The Newton School Committee announced that it has reached an agreement
with the Nutrition Workers Unit that will allow Whitsons School Nutrition to take over food
service operations in January.
According to a statement from School Committee member Jonathan Yeo released on Nov.
15, the School Committee and union members have agreed upon a multi-year agreement to
shift all food service operations for the Newton Public Schools to Whitsons on Jan. 4, 2011.
The service and its staff will be on site in December to train employees and install new
equipment.
“A heartfelt thanks to our students and parents for their patience this fall,” Yeo said. “We
believe that Whitson will bring a high-quality professional operation to the Newton Public
Schools that is financially stable for the long term.”
Yeo said the School Committee “acknowledges the many years of service” the food service
employees have given to the schools, and they anticipate that almost all of the workers,
including those let go over the summer, will continue to serve students in Newton as a part of
the Whitsons team.
“The negotiated agreement reflects the respect we have for these employees and their years
of service,” Yeo said.
The employee union and Whitsons, a family-run company headquartered in New York, have
also reached an agreement, and the union membership voted to ratify both agreements.
Yeo said that under the new contract, all of the employees represented by the union will be
laid off by the School Committee on Dec. 23, 2010, and those employees who are eligible to
retire will receive a lump sum of $5,000 each in addition to receiving their regular health and
dental insurance through the city of Newton. The company will rehire incumbent employees
who want to work for Whitsons, including those who were laid off over the summer.
“The other major issue that took much of the bargaining — it’s fair to say it took many
months — is the concept that these employees who have been loyal employees of the Newton
Public Schools, sometimes for decades, would now be working for a private company,” Yeo
said. “That was a big transition for us and the union leadership to work with their members.
One of the big transition elements was health care.”
He said that while Whitsons offers very good health insurance, the contribution rate is
much lower. The company contributes 60 percent for individuals and 40 percent for families,
compared to Newton’s contribution of 80 percent toward health-care premiums for both
individuals and family plans.
“The difference for what the employees will be getting is very large,” Yeo said. “The
transition is one thing we have worked on, a transition period over the next 2 1/2 years, to
transition them to the full Whitsons plan. In terms of the split, what we will be doing is
reimbursing Whitsons some of the money to pay for these health-care premiums over the next
three years.”
Any new employees hired by the company are not subject to this agreement and will receive
the company’s health-care plan. Yeo said the total savings are dependent upon on how many
of the employees are grandfathered into the transition plan.
“It will be a $1 million in savings to the school budget,” Yeo said. “What we did this past
year is that we cut $500,000 out of the lunch program. In the next two years, the subsidies
will be $220,000-$250,000 maximum, maybe less, so what we are looking at are savings in
the long run, compared to last year, over $750,000 in health care.”
 When the School Committee approved the $168 million FY11 budget in April, it chose to
contract out the school lunch program and laid off most of the lunch staff by cutting the food
food services budget in half.
In early September, Deputy Superintendent and Chief Administrative Officer Sandra
Guryan sent a letter to parents informing them that the Whitsons lunch service would not be
available for the start of school, citing the ongoing negotiations between the School
Committee and the School Nutrition Workers Association. As a result, 25 of 68 lunch staff
positions were cut and the original lunch program was retained, with fewer options for
students to choose from.
“We are going to have a far superior lunch program,” Yeo said. “Whitsons can do things
more efficiently. We are very much looking forward to their program getting off the ground
in early January and getting families and students back into the cafeterias and enjoying
healthy, well-prepared lunch.”
Laura Paine can be reached at lpaine@cnc.com.
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