MMSD custodians push for raise reflective of their work

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - Madison Metropolitan School District custodians spoke emotionally this week as they asked for a $5 raise for all of the district’s cleaning and maintenance staffers.

Local 60 American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees President and MMSD Custodian Rob Larson said if things don’t change soon, custodial staff won’t be able to keep up, leaving students in a learning environment that is not clean.

”If we’re not there, nothing is going to get clean, nothing is going to get maintained,” Rob Larson said. ”You don’t want your kids going to the bathroom in dirty bathrooms.”

In a school board meeting on Monday, Larson and other custodians discussed how struggling to keep up with all of the work has caused physical strain on their bodies. They have also had to work overtime. Custodians have been asking for a $5 raise since other MMSD employees were offered a raise in the fall of 2022. The current hourly rate starts at $18.31.

”What we would like is for you guys to put some meat behind the phrase ‘thanks for all that you do,” Custodian Tom Bach said to the MMSD Board of Education members on Monday. “We heard it constantly during the pandemic, we hear it constantly now, ‘Thanks for everything that you do’. Well what we’d like to see is some kind of tangible on the part of the board and the administration to actually thank us for what we do.”

A higher pay rate could help MMSD compete with The City of Madison and Dane County, the custodians argued. Larson said competitors pay $8-12 more than MMSD.

”The most important part about the raise is getting more people attracted and quality employees coming into MMSD that can have a positive impact on the staff, students, schools and community,” he said.

MMSD Board of Education President Ali Jane Muldrow said she would call NBC15 News at 2 p.m. but did not follow through.

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