SPEAKING OUT

BY JONAS LORD AND SAMA ABUGHALIA MANAGING EDITOR & PHOTO EDITOR

Food service workers, paras, library and media assistants, secretaries, custodians and other hourly staff came together for a PAL-CWA picket this fall, aiming to alert the community of their fight for better pay and workplace conditions.

Many said that hourly wages, which range from to $10.91-$13.50 per hour for many workers, aren’t enough compensation for the work they do and fall far short of a living wage in Douglas County. PAL-CWA (Personnel Association of Lawrence –Communication Workers of America) bargains on behalf of hourly workers

NEW DONUT SHOP OFFERS SWEET TREATS

LOOKING AT CLUBS OLD AND NEW

WINTER SPORTS IN PHOTOS in the district.

“I feel like they’re getting forgotten by USD 497,” Johnson said. “I am out here and doing what’s right because I don’t think people realize LHS staff in the kitchen work really hard for a lot of students.”

This feeling of underappreciation was exacerbated when one driver threw food at the picketers and drove off in a flurry thinking that the workers were striking. They weren’t.

“We’re just making people aware of how hard it is for us to feed our families on the wages that they give us,” she said. “We work our butts off.”

Protesting outside of LHS, Hannah Allison-Natale, a paraeducator with PALCWA, protests with other members this fall as the group pushed for higher pay and improved working conditions. Photo by

RAYOME