Custodian Florence Caldwell offered two words of warning to school officials considering privatizing custodial services: “Remember Aramark.”
She was referring to the previous privatization of school food service and facilities management. Those contracts went to the Aramark company, which the school system later booted after complaints about poor performance.
Caldwell raised the specter of Aramark at Monday evening’s meeting of the Board of Education. She showed up with a dozen of her fellow AFSCME Council 4 Local 287 union members to speak out against a move to privatize custodial services, which could put her and other custodians out of work or lower their wages.
Board of Education Chief Operating Officer Will Clark said the comparison with Aramark is not valid, since Aramark took over management, not the actual custodial work.
School custodians have been working without a contract since June 30, 2009, during which time they have been in stalled negotiations with the school board. Meanwhile, the district has sent out a request for proposals seeking bids on a custodial services contract for the schools. Eight bids have come in and are being considered.
Click here to see who responded to the RFP.
Rafael Crespo, union member and head custodian at Edgewood School, said his colleagues came to the school board meeting Monday to try to set the record straight. “They been trying to make us look wrong,” he said. The school board has been accusing the union of being uncooperative, he said.
Clark has previously said that the custodian’s union has canceled eight negotiation meetings. Crespo said the union has done no such thing.
Larry Dorman, spokesman for AFSCME Council 4, acknowledged that several meetings had to be canceled last fall because a union representative had a medical emergency. But it wasn’t eight meetings, he said.
Clark has also previously said that private bids for the custodial contract are coming in at half the price the district is currently paying the union.
Crespo said he would be willing to work for $12 an hour if school officials pledge to do the same. “I have 10 kids. I need my job like everyone else does,” Crespo said before the meeting.
“Privatization hasn’t worked,” Dorman said on Wednesday. It leads to a loss of accountability, ends up costing more, and is “ultimately bad for the kids,” he said.
The contract with Aramark was “a costly failure for the taxpayers,” Dorman said. “I’m hard pressed to understand how they [school officials] are going to get it right this time around.”
Thomas MacMillan Photo
During the public participation portion of Monday’s meeting, Caldwell (pictured) expressed similar sentiments when she stepped to the podium to address the board.
Privatization leads to corruption, a loss of accountability, and destroys the “sense of community in schools,” she told board members, citing Aramark.
“We all are stakeholders in our schools,” Caldwell said. “Custodians relate to children, greet them, love them … guide them.”
Public school grandparent and former school employee Hazel Pappas asked the school board why it would want to give custodial work to a private company. “All they did was make a mess of things,” she said. Instead of privatizing, the district should discipline custodians that aren’t doing a good job, Pappas said.
A representative of UNITE HERE Local 217, the school food service union, expressed support for the custodians.
Dave Cicarella, head of the teachers union, also threw in his support. He said he often tells new teachers that the two most important people in the school are the school secretary and the custodian. “They are part of the school fabric,” he said.
School board members did not respond to comments from the custodians.
After the meeting, Caldwell said the union has decided to start speaking out against privatization at all school board meetings from now on. “It’s going to be a regular occurrence.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Clark said the school district has a history of negotiating collaboratively with unions. He mentioned last year’s landmark teacher contract.
“The fact is, we have an established record of being able to work things out at the table,” Clark said. “You can’t do that if you’re not at the table.”
“We’re committed to working with the city,” Dorman said. “We’re really trying our best at Local 287 to reach an agreement.”