Teachers and staff from the Rochester City School District is preparing to have a rally today in response to ongoing payroll issues.
Four different unions will rally together at 4 p.m. outside of the RCSD Central Office on West Broad Street representing over 6,000 RCSD employees.
The payroll issues began when the district transitioned on July 2 from PeopleSoft to Oracle, a modern platform that supports the district’s financial, human capital and technology operations.
According to the district, transitions of this scale in large organizations often involve temporary challenges.
Despite working with Superintendent Eric Jay Rosser on resolving this situation, Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association, demands more action to be taken as more workers and families are impacted by this issue.
“We’re doing the rally because the payroll problems that have started on July 1 are continuing and actually are increasing,” Urbanski said. “We have hundreds of teachers and other workers who are either not getting paid or are not getting paid accurately or not getting paid on time. Our new biggest problem is that inaccurate deductions are being made from paychecks.”
Urbanski further explained how this problem not only impacts employees but the general public and families of students. As this issue continues teachers and staff are losing confidence that the district knows how to fix the problem.
“Teachers are looking around and they’re switching to other districts. They’re accepting positions in surrounding districts where they can be assured that they will get paid and paid correctly and on time,” Urbanski said.
Ange Palmerini, president of the Board of Education Non-teaching Employees Local 2419, plans to speak at the rally bringing attention to the problems employees have faced from the new system.
“I think Oracle is designed for basic payroll. We’re so customized in how we pay our people, we have people that work overtime, people that have different type of stipends and we think the system just can’t handle it,” Palmerini said.
The Democrat and Chronicle reached out to the Rochester City School District and received this response.
— Kerria Weaver works as the Government and You reporter for the Democrat and Chronicle, with a focus on how government actions affect communities and neighborhoods in Rochester and in Monroe County.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Unions to hold rally in response to RCSD payroll issues
Reporting by Kerria Weaver, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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