School Cleaners, Custodian Engineers: Stop Layoffs

Cleaners and custodian engineers employed by the Department of Education have entered into negotiations for a new contract while lobbying the City Council to restore funding and prevent layoffs in the upcoming budget.

The 5,000 employees, represented by Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, maintain DOE schools and facilities. The custodial budget faces a $6.9-million cut under the Mayor's spending plan for the fiscal year that would start July 1. Because cuts are decided on a school-byschool basis, the exact numbers of those being laid off or losing shifts is so far unknown.

'Treat Them Right'

"The men and women who keep our schools clean and healthy should be treated with dignity and respect," said Local 32BJ Secretary-Treasurer Hector Figueroa in a statement. "Our hard-working cleaners and their families deserve wage increases and better working conditions."

Along with raises, Local 32BJ is seeking to maintain health care and pension benefits as they are, as well as improving job security. School cleaners are also requesting a leave of absence provision that would permit them to take unpaid leave for any personal or family emergency.

The union has rallied City Council members to its cause against the layoffs, noting that their importance to the city has been underlined by the swine flu crisis, which has shuttered dozens of schools in recent months.

"These cuts could endanger our children's health and safety if schools are not properly cleaned and maintained," stated a letter to Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn signed by 18 Council members, including Finance Committee Chairman David Weprin and Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson.

"School cleaners worked hard in schools afflicted with the [swine flu] virus to stop its spread just as they work hard in all schools year-round to fight unseen germs and bacteria," the letter said. "With our children's health at risk, cutting corners on school cleaning should not be an option."

The letter also pointed out that "Budget cuts in the past six years have already forced these cleaners to maintain schools with 1,000 fewer cleaners," and that "further cutbacks could lead to additional job losses and the reduction of hours and resultant loss of benefits for hard-working people."

'Always First to Go'

"We're always the first ones in the budget cuts to get laid off," said Kennedy Richards, a Local 32BJ school cleaner in Queens, in a statement. "Layoffs impact our personal lives as well as the cleanliness of our schools."

"It's important to note that we are reducing the custodial budgets for each building, but we don't tell the custodians how to implement the cuts," DOE spokeswoman Anne Forte said in a phone interview. "It's too soon to know if that means layoff of the cleaners . . . they could choose to buy less cleaning supplies or reduce hours instead of laying somebody off."

Custodians are given funding to purchase supplies and hire their own staff.

Ms. Forte also noted that mid-year cuts were made by the Mayor to the custodial budgets for Fiscal Year 2009 in November, but were then restored by the Council.