MGEA Organizing and Legal Victory Bring Bargaining Success

Throughout the fall of 2023, Monona Grove Education Association paraprofessional members and their supporters rallied during and between school board meetings to call on the district to raise their pay, achieving victory through a bargaining settlement in January.

Special education assistants and educational assistants bargained for a $3 per hour pay increase to bring their pay more in line with those in similar positions in nearby districts. MGEA organized a living wage campaign during bargaining for the 2023-2024 school year, focusing on the critical support paras provide for students and teachers. MGEA packed board meetings with supporters, and parents and community members shared stories and called on the board to increase wages.

During a board meeting in January, supporters held up signs listing paraprofessional wages at several area school districts and calling for Monona Grove’s paras to have professional respect and living wages they deserve.

MGEA President Brian Fredrick said some paras have to work second or third jobs to make ends meet.

“None of them are making over $30,000 a year, but every day they show up and do a job that is incredibly important and unbelievably valuable to individual students and those families,” he said.

In preparation for bargaining, MGEA’s paraprofessional leaders discovered the district hired a male education assistant, with no prior experience, and paid him a starting hourly rate higher than the wages of many female education assistants, some with decades of experience. After attempts to resolve the issues through bargaining, the MGEA worked with WEAC’s attorneys to file wage discrimination claims through the Equal Rights Division of the State of Wisconsin.

After a hearing presenting compelling testimony highlighting the district’s discriminatory practices, MGEA’s members prevailed. The victory included adjusted wage rates, backpay with interest, and required the school district to pay WEAC’s legal fees.

“The bargaining success built on the success of the wage claim, and one organizing effort evolved into the next,” WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen said. “It is a great model for how to win at the bargaining table by organizing in the community.”