In a move that "could have a major effect on public school food service workers' wages," the New Jersey State Legislature is considering a new bill that would make sure that workers are paid the prevailing wage, according to business magazine NJBIZ.

The bill would allow food service workers to enter the middle class and "reduce their dependence on the government for health care and other support." It would also mandate sick leave, which would alleviate workers of the burden of choosing between a day's pay or coming to work while sick.

SEIU's Kevin Brown, an area director for Local 32BJ is quoted in the article as saying that the bill will "allow people to give back in taxes and spending," which would also help the economy.

The bill's sponsor, State Sen. Fred Madden (D-Washington) says the bill will save the state money "by reducing workers' needs for social services." Currently, the food service industry, according to NJBIZ, "has the highest percentage of workers using state-funded NJ FamilyCare healthcare." Sen. Madden hopes that the bill can be voted on in the fall.

Read the full article here.

You can also help to lend your support for workers' sick days by signing our official petition here: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/swusickdays

Today, the Associated Press published an interesting profile on the Philadelphia, PA school district and its pilot program for feeding its hungry children through school meals.

In the Philadelphia model, the school district provides free school meals for all children in schools "with a high percentage of low-income students." These "universal" meals are served in schools where at least 75 percent of the student body meets the low-income threshold. In Philly, more than 85 percent of students qualify.

But there's another interesting component of the Philly program: there are no forms necessary to enroll in the program.

By ridding of the forms, food service directors claim it "eliminates the costly bureaucracy that both deters needy families from applying for subsidized meals and stigmatizes those who do complete the forms." According to the AP, experts say many children who are eligible and would benefit from the program do not participate because of language barriers, literacy issues and humiliation when completing the necessary forms.

The district maintains that there's another benefit to the Philly model: the money saved on the administrative costs allows the school to absorb the costs of the free meals not already covered by government reimbursements.

According to the AP, the program "benefits students and especially working parents, who save time and money knowing their children will have a meal waiting for them at school."

The article quotes Janet Hernandez, a mother of three, who says that "sometimes, we need that extra help as far as food goes. That's one thing that we have to worry about as parents."

While Bush Administration officials threatened to close the program by 2010, President Obama's new Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, pledges to continue the program.

Key to the program - and replicating the model elsewhere, like in New York City and Los Angeles, where there is interest - is the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act later this year. An improved Child Nutrition Act is a top priority for the thousands of school food service workers that SEIU represents.

Read the full article here and everything you need to know about the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act here on our partner site, the Campaign for Quality Services.

Thousands of school food service workers in New Jersey are living at or near poverty, according to a new study from Rutgers University's Center for Women and Work. The study, authored by Dr. Mary McCain, addresses the scope of the problem in general, and then offers recommendations to fix these problems.

School lunches offer many children the only assurance that children of low-income families receive at least one well-balanced and healthy meal a day.

Despite their important work, New Jersey's public school food service workers are "struggling to support their own families," since their "pay is low, benefits are rare, and opportunities for advancement are limited."

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. Many times, sick days are not provided, raising "concerns for both the health and safety of the students and the workers" when there is an "economic incentive" to "go to work while ill."

McCain's report offers specific policy recommendations, including:

1. Increase wages and benefits to a level to sustain families and to reduce reliance on state-funded safety net programs. This is key to raising workers out of poverty. Benefits, such as sick days "should be required," as "a food service worker should never have an economic incentive to go to work when ill."
2. Establish a state system for requiring and providing a "food handler permit" for food service workers: A permit, much like the ones provided by California, Oregon, and Arizona, would provide " a validation of necessary knowledge" by "ensuring that current and potential employees have certified their knowledge of food safety and nutrition."
3. Require that contracted food service workers receive training from qualified training programs: Training could include "information about regulations governing school meal programs, menu planning, and other issues in addition to food handling."

"Unions and Upward Mobility for Service-Sector Employees," a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) shows that nationally, unionization raises service workers' pay 10.1 percent (about $2.00 per hour), compared to non-union service workers, and increases the likelihood that the worker will have health insurance and a pension. Service sector jobs include healthcare and food service workers, housekeepers, janitors and childcare providers.

The vast majority of jobs in this country are now in the service sector, and data from this study demonstrates that service sector workers reap benefits as much from unionization as workers in manufacturing do. In Pennsylvania, for example, more than 77 percent of the workforce is in service-sector jobs, and the unionization rate in those jobs is 14.7 percent. The average wage for unionized workers in the service sector in PA is $19.31, while for non-union members it is $14.27.

The impact of unions in low-wage occupations was even more significant. For workers in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union membership raised wages by 15.5 percent. The likelihood of having health insurance increased by about 26 percentage points, and the likelihood of having an employer-sponsored pension increased by roughly 23 percentage points.

"Unions give the biggest boost to workers in low-paying occupations because these are the workers that have the least bargaining power in the labor market," said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR. "Unionization can turn what would otherwise be low-paying jobs with no benefits into middle-class jobs."

Read the full study here.