AROUND AEA
FALL 2022 | ADVOCATE 11
Cartwright Elementary District and
Organizing Food Service Workers
Cartwright Education Association (CEA)
had 47 classified members and the team
had a goal of recruiting food services
workers by targeting 11 of 21 district
cafeterias and having conversations with
these workers to identify their workplace
issues.
e team held one-on-one conversations
with food service staff and found several
common issues across all sites, including
reports of injuries on the job, overworked,
understaffed, forced to work outside of
their job description, hours getting cut to
cut benefits, feeling ignored, and having no
voice in bargaining. In addition, Southwest
Food Excellence (SFE), a private company,
was engaged in union busting tactics
trying to privatize the workplace.
e team had these conversations with
workers in their home language, Spanish.
Talking with managers opened the door to
discussions with other cafeteria managers.
e team shared the $1,200 stipend CEA
won and pictures of new members joining
from other cafeterias. e team addressed
workplace issues raised at each site and
even took on the boss in front of workers
to demonstrate the strength of the union.
