CHICO — A group of school employees wants to convince Chico Unified School District it’s serious about its demand — one the group has been trying to negotiate for two years.

About 50 blue-shirted people shouted and waved signs in City Plaza Wednesday evening, then walked across the street to attend the scheduled board of trustees meeting. Their signs read, “An issue of respect — binding arbitration,” and their shirts advertised, “Essential work — extraordinary workers.”

The California School Employees Association has been working to get a small, but significant change in the contract for Chico’s classified employees, whose members include clerical, custodial, food service, transportation and other staff.

The bargaining was declared at an impasse, then negotiated with a mediator, and finally sent to a fact-finding panel of three people — one chosen by the district, one by the union and one agreed to by both parties.

The panel returned an opinion Sept. 20 favoring the union by two to one, explained Jack Metcalf, a labor relations representative for the region that includes Butte County.

The issue at hand revolves around how grievances would be settled between the district and its employees.

The current contract allows the board of trustees to make final decisions on grievances filed against the district, but the union has been working to change the grievance process to require an outside arbitrator to make that decision, a process called “binding arbitration.”

Metcalf said binding arbitration is standard in a majority of districts statewide and has little or no financial impact on a district. Since the Chico Unified Teachers Association contract included the provision, it indicated a lack of respect for classified employees that they were denied it.

“We want to be able to know, when we get to that point, the end, when you can’t work it out, it will go to a neutral party,” explained Denise Bell-Corona, a cafeteria satellite manager who works at Parkview School.

Beverly Patrick, a school office manager, delivered a petition to the board that she said had been signed by about 500 of the 570 employees in the union.

“Please listen to us … and seriously discuss giving us binding arbitration,” she said.

Jan Hays, a health assistant at Pleasant Valley High School, told the board that employees suffered from low morale because of the lay-offs in the spring and they had a feeling of being “kicked around.” She explained the employees put off pushing their rights during the tumultuous spring financial crisis. “Now we’re asking for something that does not impact the district,” she concluded.

Assistant Superintendent Bob Feaster said the union had asked for time during the board’s open meeting to present their case, but the board had not met before that night to discuss the fact-finding report. A decision had not yet been reached, even though discussion began during the board’s closed session earlier in the evening.

After the meeting, Feaster told the Enterprise-Record the union’s arguments were flawed, that moving to binding arbitration could cost the district a huge amount and that it is not standard in other districts.

Classified employees have resources in the grievance process that certificated employees don’t have, he said, so not agreeing to binding arbitration was no indication of lack of respect.

“There are a lot of things in the CSEA contract that CUTA would like to have,” he noted. “The two bargaining units have different needs.”

BACKGROUND: For the last two years, Chico Unified School District’s classified employees union has fought to change the way grievances are resolved.

WHAT’S NEW: A fact-finding panel returned recommendations that favored the union by two to one and employees rallied in City Plaza before Wednesday’s board meeting.