Rockville, MD – On August 14, Teamsters Local 639 at Verbal Beginnings, an education center for autistic children, held a rally as they entered their fourth week on strike. The workers at Verbal Beginnings organized just a little over a year ago and have garnered attention from the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) community due to being one of the first workplaces in their field to unionize.
The striking workers held signs reading, “Fair pay in ABA!” and chanted “What do we want? Contract!” Members of Montgomery County Educators Association, city council members, and several community members and activists joined them on the picket line in solidarity.
“To see just how much the community supports the struggle of the workers, it’s really incredible,” said Jane Bruno, one of the workers from Verbal Beginnings and a member of Teamsters Local 639. “And I think a lot of people feel this way, but they’re afraid to speak out. They’re afraid to try to rock the boat. But I think we’re showing them that, ‘hey, you can come together. You can. You can fight for these things because you do deserve better.’ It’s really powerful.”
The fight for a decent contract at Verbal Beginnings has been going on for over a year, with key issues centering around pay to keep up with Maryland’s high cost of living, proper PPE for the workers, and safeguards to address basic needs such as fixing holes in the walls of the workplace. “I shouldn’t have to work three jobs just to make a living,” said another worker with Verbal Beginnings, “we deserve to be able to make a living in this field.”
Though the workers have sent several proposals to management, the bosses have refused to move on most of the workers’ demands, including those around wages.
“We’re definitely still pretty far off,” said Bruno, “We’re still not there as far as what they’re offering, and what we would be able to accept, that actually allows us to come back to work and for us to be able to make a living wage and pay all of our bills.”
Many workers have expressed repeatedly that at the heart of the strike is the desire to return to and to be able to take care of the children, while shining a light on the hypocrisy of the leadership that claims the same.
“VB, you say you care about these kids and us, that that’s your mission,” said Bruno, “Well, actions speak louder than words! Ball’s in your court now, go out and prove it.”
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