The Los Angeles school board has voted to extend the schedule of part-time cafeteria workers to four hours a day. That change immediately qualified 2,352 workers for health benefits under existing labor agreements. About 2,390 food-service-related workers already had benefits. The school district puts the annual new cost at $35.5 million; the union estimate is about $28 million. Either way, the district has identified no money to pay for the benefits.
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EARLIER: Two Los Angeles school board members have introduced a proposal to give health benefits to all cafeteria workers, a top labor priority that could cost the school system as much as $45 million a year. The Los Angeles Unified School District employs about 5,000 cafeteria workers. About 2,400 have health benefits; the rest work less than four hours a day and therefore do not qualify. The proposal would shift all cafeteria workers to four hours or more per day. The total number of jobs probably would drop, but all workers would have benefits. (Los Angeles Times)
