Federation of Head Start Employees forced to take pay reductions to care for their children
Olympia, WA – The members of Federation of Head Start Employees, Local 6153 of AFT, is calling upon ESD 113’s administration to honor Head Start’s mission of bringing working families out of poverty by keeping their own employees out of poverty. The district has told employees that they must return to in-person work, regardless of employees’ caregiving needs or COVID-19 risk status. Even though there is still plenty of remote work to be done because they are returning in a hybrid model, the district is insisting all work must be done at school sites. Working parents who cannot return full-time because their own children are hybrid or fully remote must use leave without pay (LWOP) once their PTO runs out; those at high risk would have to apply for unemployment. The district has relented under union pressure to allow one day per week remote work, but this would still leave working parents and high-risk individuals facing pay cuts of up to $2,000 by one estimate.