Letter: Sadly, school lunch union replaced
School lunch on May 12, 2014. Credit: Newsday / Jessica Rotkiewicz
In "Schools sell lunch again" [News, Nov. 8], readers were told that the Miller Place district and the Miller Place Cafeteria Union agreed to dissolve the union. This could not be further from the truth.
The Miller Place school board in June unanimously voted to privatize the school lunch program. The union negotiated an exit agreement with the district, which provided some potential job offers and payment for money owed.
The union did not dissolve itself; the district privatized the program in the last year of the contract. I was concerned about the district's announcement to privatize, without notifying the union, after the food service program lost money for two years.
The district would also have readers believe that the Miller Place Cafeteria Union caused the delay in finding a replacement food service, but truth be told, the first bid in August was unacceptable. A subsequent bid was submitted by Aramark in September. Only four former union members have returned to work for Aramark.
Nick LaMorte, Miller Place
Editor's note: The writer is the Long Island region president of the Civil Service Employees Association.
