The Justice for Janitors union, SEIU Local 1877, recently won a major victory in their last contract, which will support the development of Parent Universities. This new project will help parents improve their capacity to work with their children’s local schools. Two-thirds of janitors have children in public schools, and they are located in some of the worst-performing schools in Los Angeles. The janitors contract will provide three cents per hour to support this work and will also provide a contractual right for parents to be absent from work to attend parent-teacher conferences. As one SEIU organizer said, “The union can get our members another $3 per hour, but what they want is a better life for their children.”

On July 25, key labor and community organizations met at the UCLA Downtown Labor Center to discuss the potential expansion of this project. The organizations included the United Teachers Los Angeles, SEIU United Long-Term Care Workers’ Union, UNITE HERE Local 11, SEIU Local 721, Community Coalition, and InnerCity Struggle. Most of the members of these unions have children who attend schools in the L.A. Unified School District. If organized as a force, this group would constitute the largest parent organization in California.

The next action steps include disseminating the curricula for the Parent Universities and expanding this project to other unions. Gary Blasi from the UCLA School of Law and John Rogers from the UCLA School of Education are working closely with the Labor Center to implement this plan. UCLA alumnus Mariana Zamboni, who just received her MA in education from Harvard, has been hired to assist with the project.