The SouthtownStar, a local newspaper in Chicago, has an excellent article about our "lobby day" from a few weeks back, where we told our members of Congress that an improved Child Nutrition Act is needed to ensure that millions of children get the type of food that they need.

The article features two of our members, Laura Spiewak and Veronica Mendoza, who both work as food service workers for local high schools.

The article describes both as "women (who) take pride in bring food service workers," and argues that "students need more nutritional options and less of the processed stuff."

In the article, Laura Spiewak speaks about how much the visit mattered to her. "It was so empowering to think that someone like me - a lunch lady - could go there and possibly change things for the better."

Veronica Mendoza had similar sentiments, saying that she "(knows that) being a cafeteria lady isn't a very glamorous job, but it's important."

You can read the full article here: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1689492,072909schoolfood.article

Yesterday, Service Workers United cafeteria workers from across the country went to Capitol Hill to lobby members of Congress for stronger USDA Child Nutrition Programs. One member of the group was Marlon Taylor, a food service worker from suburban Illinois. Here, Marlon discusses why he loves his job working with kids and why it's important to improve the Child Nutrition Act.

Last year in the U.S., a record 20 million subsidized school lunches were served each day. In Illinois, Taylor's home state, there were 713,755 free or reduced-price lunches served during the 2007-2008 school year alone.

Earlier this month, the agriculture appropriations committees in both chambers of Congress agreed to spend an additional $13 billion this year on nutrition programs. However, exactly how much of that will be allocated towards improving the quality and nutritional value of the food served to children in public schools remains up in the air.

Congress is scheduled to take up the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act this fall--which is why now is the time to lend your voice to tell Congress we need an improved Child Nutrition Act: http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/nutritionact

For the first time in the 63-year history of our nation's School Lunch Program, front-line food service workers are on Capitol Hill today to petition their government to strengthen the program that serves food to more than 30 million children every day.

Because of the current economic crisis, more and more families are relying on school food programs to provide their children with a complete and well-balanced meal. Last month, USA Today reported that "nearly 20 million children now receive free or reduced-price lunches in the nation's schools, an all-time high" and that "many school districts are struggling to cover their share of the meals' rising costs.

On Capitol Hill, the 80 food service workers - members of Service Workers United, and from all over the country - are advocating for stronger USDA Child Nutrition Programs that will:

• Improve food safety, nutrition, health and wellness, and customer service by raising workplace standards and providing living wages, benefits, paid sick leave, and training for all school food service workers.
• Increase federal reimbursement rates for meals to enable schools to cover the rising costs of meeting dietary guidelines and to purchase fresh, healthy foods.
• Reach more struggling families by relaxing eligibility requirements, streamlining application processes, and allowing for regional variations in cost of living in determining eligibility.

These 80 food service workers are representative of the more than 420,000 workers employed in school cafeterias throughout the country. Although these workers' mission is to fight poverty and hunger work, some of them are paid as low as $6.55 an hour with no benefits.

Do your part by signing on to tell Congress we need an improved Child Nutrition Act: http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/nutritionact

Members of the CSEA/SEIU Local 2001 chapter that represents the Connecticut Windham Public Schools' food service workers will speak out against outsourcing food services at Board of Education public forum tonight.

The union members who provide food services in Windham's public schools are committed to providing the district's children with healthy, nutritious meals every day--while outside contractors are less accountable to the taxpayer and cut corners in food quality, nutrition and service."Our schools' cafeteria program does not need to make a profit, so we can focus exclusively on providing the best quality, nutritious meals to the kids," said Mary Jackson, manager of food services at Windham High School.

Reversing the history of poor labor-relations in this country has been a priority of SEIU for more than five years. Tonight's speak out will be the fourth time members have organized community opposition to contracting-out services to a private, for-profit corporation at a Board event since March 2009.

Thousands of school food service workers in New Jersey are living at or near poverty, according to a new report commissioned by SEIU Local 32BJ. The report found that the average hourly wage for food preparation workers in educational services was only $8.15, and revealed that many of these jobs pay no more than the NJ state minimum wage of $7.15.

The report, prepared by the Rutgers University Center for Women and Work/School of Management, ascertained that 64 percent of NJ K-12 school districts contract their food service to an outside company and that those private sector cafeteria jobs are largely part-time and typical offer with no affordable health benefits. As a result, most workers are uninsured or forced to turn to the state's public health insurance programs-- a result that contributes largely to the school food service industry acting as one of the biggest drains on New Jersey FamilyCare, as over 6,300 employees and their children covered by the taxpayer-funded state health assistance plan.