School custodians stop plan to replace them with students, other volunteers

By DON McINTOSH, Staff Reporter

A rapid mobilization by union custodians at Portland Public Schools (PPS) may have staved off planned staff cuts, says Arthur Towers, executive director of the Oregon State Council, Service Employees International Union.

At a March 13 school board meeting, PPS Superintendent Ben Canada unveiled his proposed budget for the 2000-2001 school year, and among the belt-tightening measures it contained were $700,000 in savings from "more efficient staffing of custodial operations and maintenance services." As Canada explained it, savings would come from using student workers and community volunteers to do custodial work. Custodians understood this to mean there would be staff cuts, in an already decimated department.

The reaction was quick from School Employees Local 140, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Local 140 represents PPS custodians and cafeteria workers. The union distributed fliers that declared, "School is for learning, not for child labor" and called on its members, other unionists, and parents to sign postcards opposing the cuts and to attend a series of budget hearings to voice their disapproval. "Who on earth is going to volunteer to clean urinals?" asked Robyn Steely, spokesperson for the SEIU state council.

As for child labor, the school district already employs a handful of student workers, but union custodians say they spend as much time supervising the young people as they gain from their labor.

With property taxes limited by ballot measures and no new sources of revenue developed by the Oregon Legislature, PPS, like many school districts, has found itself in an ongoing budget pinch, looking for areas to cut corners.

In 1998 a comprehensive audit was performed on the district by the accounting firm KPMG Peat Marwick, which made numerous money-saving suggestions. Some, like the recommendation to have teachers clean classrooms, were unpalatable to the school district's unions.

In other cases, the audit bolstered union arguments - none of the 15 schools Peat Marwick inspected met cleanliness standards. Custodial staff had been reduced by one third since 1991, and the auditors' report recommended that the district increase funding to custodial services. Ironically, just that year the custodians' union had beaten back a proposal by interim Superintendent Diane Snowden to cut 43 more positions.

Now, by mobilizing their members and supporters again, the union hoped to halt Canada's proposed cuts too.

In a two-week space, the union collected over 300 postcards. School board member Marc Abrams sent an e-mail to Superintendent Canada expressing concern with any further custodial cuts taking place.

Feeling the pressure, Canada met with a union delegation March 30 and assured them that no cuts would take place.

That evening, at the first of a series of public hearings on the budget, two custodians testified: Grant Walter, president of Local 140; and Birdie Kirk. Later, a group of custodians gave an inch-high stack of copies of the post cards to each board member. Tower, the executive director of the SEIU state council, said to assure that staff cuts don't reappear, the union will have to stay vigilant until the budget process is completed in May.

Pam Brown, the PPS administrator in charge of custodial and maintenance operations, said whether cuts take place will depend on how much money the district gets from the state. Of the $700,000 in reductions Canada had slated for her area, $100,000 would come from custodial, she said, though any staff reduction would start with attrition rather than layoff. Brown said personnel costs for custodians are going up because of a new union contract, and she's concerned that the State of Oregon may actually reduce the amount it gives the Portland School District.