| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
Adam
F L I N T O I D
|
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/05/holly_joins_genesee_county_sch.html
Linda Muhel's grilling talents may be relegated to her backyard.
The Sherman Middle School cook — who has whipped up thousands of cheeseburgers and chicken patties over the past 11 years -- could lose her union job to a private company. It's something that will be decided next month in Holly, which like many districts is ramping up privatizing jobs during tough financial times.
"I'm pretty upset," Muhel said. "I had hoped to retire from the Holly School District. I'll be 54 in August, and I think it will be hard to find a job at that age."
Privatizing isn't new, but it's increasingly becoming the norm, even in an area so steeped in labor tradition and where privatizing union jobs is anathema to some.
Twelve school districts in Genesee County already are doing it. Some say they've saved millions of dollars and expect outsourcing will increase because of budget woes.
Beecher school officials, for instance, say they initially saved $301,412 by outsourcing food service work, while the Grand Blanc School District estimates it has saved about $1.56 million this school year (through March) by privatizing several support staff and administrative positions.
Statewide, more than 40 percent of school districts last year privatized at least one of three major services: custodial, food service and transportation, according to Michael LaFaive, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Lansing.
"Superintendents and school boards, even if they are sympathetic to the district's staff, have to balance the budget and often want to get more money into the classroom. A competitive contractor is the way to do it," he said.
But a lot of the affected employees live in the communities where they work and union officials say local businesses and the school district suffer.
"When a person loses their job there's no desire to remain in the community," said Tanya Pratt of the Michigan Education Association. "They have to move out to find employment, which impacts the entire community. ... It hurts the school district because they lose students."
But Grand Blanc Superintendent Michael Newton said outsourcing has been done in the district without people losing their jobs.
"We have only gone to privatization on an attrition basis," Newton said. "When someone retires, we hire a privatized person to take the person's place. We felt that was the most humane way of implementing the program."
Dianne Bregenzer, an MEA bargaining representative for Grand Blanc, isn't touched by the gesture.
"Isn't that a pretty picture," she said sarcastically. "These are jobs that should have gone to people who would be our union members.
"I think it's a form of union busting. It may not be the reason they started it but it's a form of that. One by one they pick off members of the union."
Many school job losses
Plenty of school employees have lost their jobs over the past seven years but exactly how much of that was caused by privatization is unknown, said Jim Rhein, labor market analyst with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
Between 2000 and 2007, the Flint area experienced a decline of 500 jobs, or a 2.3 percent drop, in local government work, a large portion of which was in education, Rhein said. Statewide, the decline was 4 percent.
"We know there's been a decline overall but we don't know if they are just scaling back and doing without or doing replacement with privatization," Rhein said.
Some of those who lose their jobs to privatization get hired by the private company but their employment doesn't last long, contended Larry Roehrig, secretary treasurer Michigan AFSCME Council 25.
"They try to utilize as many as possible so they get the lay of the land and through attrition they don't call as many back," Roehrig said. "That does impact, in some cases immediately or a few months later, the number of people who hit the job market and many do wind up going wherever anybody is hiring."
Several of the custodians whose jobs were outsourced last year in Holly are still looking for work.
Mona Knapp is one of the lucky ones who found work.
At age 52 she hit the job market, an adventure she never dreamed she would encounter at that stage in her life. She says she mailed lots of resumes and even traveled up north to apply for school district jobs.
It took six months for her to get a job as a housekeeping supervisor at Kohl's.
Unemployment checks, money for unused vacation time and cashing in her state retirement contributions helped her get by until she was hired.
The job, though, doesn't pay as much. She says she took a 20 percent to 30 percent pay cut but has health insurance.
"If I had not had a position as a head custodian, I don't think I would be employed now," she said.
A deeply divisive issue
Privatization clearly still deeply divides people.
Taxpayer Allyson Ludeman of Lapeer says it's OK for a school district to outsource jobs as long as the district is saving money.
"I'd rather have them spend money in the classroom than on cleaning toilets," said Ludeman, 38.
Her mother, Irene Silcox, feels completely the opposite. Silcox's husband worked for years as a truck driver and was a member of the Teamsters.
"I'd rather keep the union people working," said Silcox, 64.
Cathy Perakovich, who has children in the Kearsley School District, doesn't like the idea either.
"I think there's other things they can do to cut costs," said Perakovich, 35. "They could make the school day longer or shorten the school year. Don't take away from the people who rely on (those jobs)."
Some school districts, such as Flint, tried privatization and went back to in-house services. Others are cutting costs and saving money by entering shared services agreements with the Genesee Intermediate School District.
The Beecher School District has saved about $19,800 annually by having the GISD operate its business office. That, along with other measures, led the cash-strapped district to reduce its $2.1-million operating deficit by 63 percent, officials said.
Beecher Superintendent Jerri Lynn Williams said the GISD's expertise has greatly benefited the district.
"In the past the district had incurred penalty and late fees and the GISD came in and cleaned it up," she said.
Bendle, Bentley, Flushing, Genesee, Kearsley, Lake Fenton, Montrose and the Westwood Heights school districts also have agreements for various shared services with the GISD.
"The reason districts are surviving and able to keep their doors open is because they are working together and sharing resources and looking at new ways of doing business," GISD spokesman Jerry Johnson said.
'Tough in a UAW town'
When the Kearsley School District laid off 30 custodian and maintenance workers in 2004 and outsourced most of the work it was met with stiff resistance.
Workers picketed before a Board of Education meeting and some residents called for the recall of board members who supported the privatization.
"It's very tough in a UAW town and county like Genesee," Superintendent Jeff Morgan said. "Nobody enjoys doing it."
The district initially saved $324,065 from privatizing and those savings would be even larger today if Kearsley were still paying those employees now with higher health care costs and retirement contributions, Morgan said.
When it comes to job performance, Kearsley officials say parents are pleased. A parent survey conducted in 2006, 2007 and 2008 shows that at least 90 percent of those polled either agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied with the appearance of the schools' facilities and grounds.
The feedback in Holly for its privatized custodial services, though, hasn't been as favorable. Those polled were divided over whether the private company is cleaning classrooms and bathrooms as well as the former custodians.
Holly made the switch last year -- a move that cut about 20 custodial jobs and sparked a student walkout at Holly High School.
The district saved $873,723, which was more than it anticipated, Assistant Superintendent Steve Lenar said. If the work wasn't outsourced, Lenar said school officials would have had to find another way to cut $650,000 from the budget.
Holly school officials estimate they would now save $60,000 by cutting 20 food service jobs and outsourcing the work to a private company.
Still, the MEA's Bregenzer says school districts will run into big problems if they continue on the privatization path.
"If all of the people get privatized and no one is paying into the retirement system, where is the money going to come from?" she said. "Yet the retirement system is constitutionally guaranteed. We'll start to have one big problem if it's underfunded."
From public to private
Many Flint area school districts have privatized work to cut costs. Here's a look at work outsourced from the 2005-06 school year through 2007-08:
Sources: School districts
(1) The Beecher School District previously had Chartwell and 16 of its own Beecher employees handling food service. Chartwell's cost is included in the "cost before" figure.
(2) The Bendle School District's "cost before" is an estimate of what it would have had to pay over the past three school years.
(3) The Clio School District has contracted with Chartwell for food services for more than 20 years. Cost figures before privatization were not available.
(4) The Davison School District's custodial contract began March 3.
(5) The Flushing School District contracted with Hi-Tech for only the 2006-07 school year. The savings is based on one custodian, but the district privatized what was equivalent to five custodial positions.
(6) The Goodrich School District began contracting custodial services in 1996-97 and those figures are not available. The district still employs three custodians, included in the cost.
(7) The Grand Blanc School District has outsourced custodial, clerical, administrative, substitute teacher, substitute clerical, food service, noon-hour supervision, paraprofessional and substitute bus driver jobs. Companies hired are Knight FM, Century Temporary Services, PESG, LaGarda Security, Chartwells, and School Staffing Source (2005-06 only). The savings are estimated for the 2007-08 school year (through March).
( The Kearsley School District continues to employ seven custodial/maintenance staff. The cost after privatization includes $417,835 paid to staff.
(9) The Lake Fenton School District contracted the listed services before the 1998-99 school year. Cost figures prior to the privatization were not available.
(10) The Linden School District has privatized transportation since 1996. Cost figures before privatization were not available.
(11) The Westwood Heights School District's "cost before" is an estimate of what it would have had to pay in the 2006-07 year to run its transportation department.
http://blog.mlive.com/newsnow_impact/2008/05/privatization_chart.jpg has the chart. |
|
|
Sun May 25, 2008 1:02 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
