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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2006)
People, not statistics, lose their livelihoods to privatization Four years ago, Portland Public Schools fired its 330 custodians and re- placed them with lower-wage con- tracted janitors. One of the fired custodians was Bob Sykes, lead custodian on the night shift at Vernon Elementary School in North- east Portland. Vernon principal Linda Wakefield sent him off with a tearful farewell and a glowing letter of recommendation. Sykes had a wife and a 14-year-old son to provide for, and losing a job that paid $15 an hour was a blow. “They broke our contract. I feel like what they did was wrong,” he said. Sykes says he spent about six months on unemployment, and longer on anti-depressants. A representative of the janitorial hired; he now earns $15.70 an hour as night custodian at William Walker Ele- mentary School. Local 140 fought the firings through the court system. Last December, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the firings were illegal. Portland Public Schools is expected to offer reinstatement to the custodians next month. Now 47, Sykes says he’d like to go back to work at Portland Public Schools. He says he likes Walker, but not the commute. But the way back is still uncertain. Like others, he’ll wait to hear what the district has to offer. contractor, Portland Habilitation Cen- ter, had assured the Portland Public Schools Board that fired custodians could apply for jobs (though of course at a fraction of their former wages and benefits). Sykes says he made a number of inquiries, but got the runaround. He felt PHC wasn’t interested in hiring him, though he was a 14-year employee of the district. “They made excuses,” Sykes says. PHC spokesperson Mike Delman says out of the 330 custodians, only one ended up working at PHC. Sykes found work at a warehouse, then signed on as an on-call custodian for Centennial School District in South- east Portland. He’d been a regular at School Em- ployees Local 140 union meetings, and A B S O LU T E B EG IN N E RS G UI D E T O R EA L ES T A TE I N VE S TI N G It’s time to make Labor Day picnic plans Mark your calendars for Monday, Sept. 4 — date of the annual Labor Day Picnic sponsored by the Northwest Ore- gon Labor Council. Oaks Park in Southeast Portland has been booked, and union locals are re- serving space for what is the largest La- bor Day bash in Oregon. The Labor Council will sell food scrip for 25 cents each. Three scrip will get you a hot dog and chips, two scrip a soda pop, and four scrip a beer. A deluxe ride bracelet costs $8.25 and is good from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year the roller rink will be open for those with ride bracelets. Many unions also host special events for their members. Check for details with your local. For more information, or to purchase scrip, contact the Labor Council at 503- 235-9444. Former Portland Public School employee custodian Bob Sykes says he would like to return to his old job at Vernon Elementary School. kept in touch with his former co-work- ers. Some didn’t make it. Abernathy El- ementary School custodian James Granville, a friend of Sykes, died of heart failure not long after the firings. It was the district’s heart that failed, but Granville felt the pain of it, he had told Sykes at a church picnic. Local 140 folded after the firings. It later merged with a sister local, Service Employees Local 503. Eventually, Sykes heard from a friend about a custodial job at Beaver- ton School District. He applied and was Palm Springs, June 2006 Portland, July 2006 Seattle, August 2006 Learn how to get in the game of pre-foreclosures, mobile homes, pretty houses and junkers. $99 ADMITS 1, $129 FOR 2. You must preregister at: www.absolutebeginnersrealestate- training.com or 800-798-4493 Karl Bik, Co-Chairman Cement Masons Trust Funds for Northern California The bank of labor has on-the-job experience in Taft-Hartley trust fund management supports you with an expert labor team and one easy point of contact offers investment solutions to build and protect your hard-earned funds gives workers the benefit of customized health and retirement plans has worked on behalf of unions for more than 50 years. Invest in you ® Labor Management Trust Services Trevor Lewis, Senior Vice President, (213) 236-4061 Jan Dawson, Vice President, (503) 450-1273 Louis Nagy, Vice President, (206) 587-3627 Labor Management Deposit Services Diane Williams, Senior Vice President & Manager, (213) 236-5085 John Mendoza, Vice President & Relationship Manager, (415) 705-7112 Visit us at unionbank.com JUNE 16, 2006 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ©2006 Union Bank of California, N.A. Member FDIC PAGE 3
