3/17 SF ESL SFIE Teachers To Strike-Join the Picket Line/Solidarity Needed

3/17 SF ESL SFIE Teachers To Strike-
Join the Picket LIne
Solidarity Needed




On Monday, March 17, at 8:30 a.m. a strike will begin at San Francisco Institute of English (3301 Balboa, corner of 34th Avenue in SF's Outer Richmond District) and will continue until the following demands are met:

* Return of fully-paid health care that was removed in 2004 with the promise of its return when financial conditions improve, which they have -- in addition, this past week SFIE sold another school property that had been on the market for $1,395,000.
* An across-the-board 30% increase in wages, with automatic future cost-of-living-adjustments because there have been none for over 12 years.

Please join our picket line in front of the school building, as well as contribute to our strike fund (e-mail back for details).

If you can't make it to our picket line, you can also help us by phoning (415-750-1755), faxing (415-750-9939), or e-mailing (info [at] sfie.net) the school to express your solidarity and insist that management acquiesce to our demands.

Solidarity!

WHY WE’RE STRIKING

We, the teachers at San Francisco Institute of English (3301 Balboa Street in the Richmond District), are striking for a livable wage and the return of health care benefits. SFIE is an English as a Second Language (ESL) school with a teaching staff of 11. We have not had a cost-of-living increase in over 12 years; employee health care was taken away in 2004 with the promise of its return if enrollment returned to pre-September 11, 2001 levels (changes in Homeland Security procedures caused the number of student visas to temporarily drop – affecting the entire ESL industry). The number of students is back up to that previous level, but we have yet to get our health care back. Conditions in the private/non-profit ESL industry have been in steady decline for years, made worse because this sector has traditionally been non-union.

Despite SFIE being a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, its absentee executive director and his invisible assistant director pay themselves a combined $250,000 a year, while teachers make less in wages than either of them make in benefits alone. We are demanding the following:

· Across-the-board 30% wage increase – with annual raises and cost-of-living adjustments
· Return of fully-paid health care benefits
· Employee policy in writing, including job security and grievance procedures

Management has refused to negotiate, so we have no choice but to strike. Please join our picket line, donate to our strike fund and offer your solidarity to help us to organize the non-union private/non-profit ESL industry.

PLEASE SUPPORT US




SFIEteachers [at] yahoo.com