JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Chartwells K12, the food service provider for Duval County Public Schools, said its contract negotiations with AFSCME Local 2941 have broken down.
“If an agreement cannot be reached, workers have discussed holding a strike authorization vote,” a Chartwells news release states.
The contractor said its employees, “suffer from chronic understaffing in schools, increased workload with a lack of retention of quality staff due to low wages and lack of benefits that traditional school district employees enjoy.”
Chartwells has scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m., Monday on the topic.
“Employees are asking that Chartwells K12, a private employer, live up to the spirit of a 2022 state law that brought pay for all public school employees to at least $15 an hour,” the news release states. “Chartwells pays employees the state’s minimum wage of $13/hour with employees asking starting pay of just $1/hr more and a 3% pay increase for existing employees.”
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.