ALMOST EVERYONE KNOWS about underpaid teachers, and the problem is very real. But there are other workers in the San Francisco Unified School District who do their best every day to make their schools a better place, workers who are represented by Service Employees International Union Local 790. Our members work for the school district because they care about the children, but also because they believe providing living-wage jobs with benefits makes for better schools and promotes the interests of both the children and workers.

Local 790 is currently in negotiations for a new contract. But it doesn't feel like a negotiation. Arlene Ackerman, superintendent of the school district, has made offers to us that show how little we are regarded. We have not had a raise in three and a half years, she is not offering a raise, and she has told us to pay for our own retirement and pay all increases in medical costs. She's also given us three work-furlough days (which means we don't get paid at all), and has laid off nearly 100 workers. How much worse can it get?

It can get worse. Ackerman could have avoided laying off those workers if she had agreed to implement an initiative passed by the voters a couple of years ago that allows the workers in the classification where there are layoffs to do early retirement. The city and county of San Francisco have implemented this initiative, and nearly 200 people who would have been laid off were able to keep their jobs. It is simply heartless to not implement this initiative.

But it gets even worse. Ackerman refuses to give us, the lowest-paid workers in the district, a raise, while giving herself a hefty raise, to $270,000 a year. That means she is making $22,500 per month! She also got a raise in her expense allowance, which went from $800 to $2,000 a month. So every month, she takes home close to $25,000, while the lowest-paid workers get no raises, pay more for retirement and health, and get three unpaid days off over the course of the next year. It is positively shameful.

And still, it gets worse! We have been meeting for the last eight months, but over the course of the next month, we will not meet at all. Why? The stated reason is that the negotiators will be on vacation for the entire month of July. Vacation! While we sit and wait for them, wondering how much we will end up paying in increased health-care costs, how much we will pay for retirement, whether we will get a raise or not, the top negotiators for the school district will be lounging on some beach somewhere.

Last Tuesday night we watched in horror as school board members passed a budget that included work furloughs for our members, all done under the rhetoric, "It is for the kids." Whenever you hear that line at a school board meeting, watch out. Most of the time, it means some antilabor political agenda is being moved.

What's good for the kids? A stable workforce that is treated with respect, has a high morale, and doesn't turn over every six months because nobody in his or her right mind wants to work for the district.

Rumblings among the members are getting louder and louder. Some have even mentioned striking. Who can blame them? Clearly the district doesn't take our needs seriously. Ackerman certainly takes her own needs seriously, giving herself a hefty raise in salary and expenditure allowances in her lucrative contract (most janitors would be thrilled with a fraction of what she makes). And could we be so lucky as to have a short-notice special meeting to approve our contract? I'm guessing not.

LaWanna Preston is the lead negotiator for the school district negotiating team, SEIU Local 790.