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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2006)
After being illegally fired in 2002 Portland school custodians’ return murky Eight months after the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that privatizing Portland Public Schools custodial de- partment was illegal, details about the custodians’ return to work are still murky. Just over a month before the school year begins, it wasn’t clear how many of the roughly 330 custodians the dis- trict fired in August 2002 would choose to return. On July 6, the district sent a letter to the attorneys representing the custodi- ans. The letter announced an offer to “recall” them to their former positions, and imposed a deadline of July 20 for individuals to accept the offer. That deadline was extended to July 28, and again to Aug. 4. CUSTODIAN CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS Aug. 19 & 29, 2006 Benson High School Cafeteria 546 NE 12th Ave. Portland Sign in at 9:00 AM The PPS Custodians Civil Service Board (CCSB) will conduct a Custodian Civil Service examination on each of the above dates for the purpose of qualifying a pool of candidates for potential employment as custodians within the Portland Public School system. Preregister for an exam via the Portland Schools Human Resources Web site (www.hr.pps.k12.or.us). Go to the Employment Opportunities section and scroll to the Civil Service Exam link. Or, if preferred, register upon arrival at Benson on the day of the test. All applicants are required to provide photo ID verification on the day of testing. Additional information is available via the Human Re- sources Web site. Portland Public Schools is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Attorneys representing custodians maintain the district had no authority to impose a deadline for the acceptance of reinstatement offer. But they and the steering committee elected by the ter- minated custodians to oversee their re- turn plan to cooperate and try to meet the deadline. They think over half may agree to return; a better number will be available Aug. 4. Some details emerged when steering committee chair Steve Armony had his first meeting July 26 with his district counterparts — Jim Christensen, hired to manage the transition, and Randy Thomas, custodial service manager. The district has signed a contract with PHC, the current janitorial contractor, to use its supervisors until December. Once the district has determined how many custodians want to return, it will fill positions in order of seniority, and then hire to fill any still-vacant posi- tions. New hires will have to pass a civil service exam. The goal is to get every- one on the job before school begins Sept. 6. Once all positions are filled, the workers will choose a contract bargain- ing team, which will be joined by a staffperson from their union, Service Employees International Union Local 503. The chief hurdle to returning, Ar- mony says, is that it’s tough for custodi- ans to make a decision when they don’t know what they'll be returning to. “It ain’t gonna be like the old days,” Armony said. “They’ll have to be more of a united union than ever to go back to work for the school district.” The district said it would pay them their old salaries, plus the same per- centage increases that were given to the district’s cafeteria workers over the last four years. Armony and the attorneys reject the idea that raises negotiated for one group can apply to the other, but agreed to settle that dispute once custo- dians are back to work. In any case, that pay will last only until a new union contract is negotiated. And the district shows every sign of re- turning to the hardball bargaining stances it had in the past. This time, the district may bargain in a hurry. In recent bargaining with cafe- teria workers and office support staff, the district dragged its feet and held off for six months before giving its wage and benefit proposal. The custodians, on the other hand, have been given a de facto proposal before they return to work, and before their bargaining team has been selected. The custodians won’t be district employees — or union mem- bers — until they formally accept rein- statement and return to work. The district is proposing to pay cus- todians what the employees of PHC, the private contractor, were paid — $10.55 an hour for “day custodians” and $10.35 an hour for “night janitors.” In other words, the district will pay custo- dians $14.56 to $22.71 upon return (presumably because it’s legally obli- gated to) and then propose to cut that salary a third to a half. Four years ago, the district proposed a cut of nearly as much, asking custo- dians to absorb $4.5 million in wage and benefit concessions out of a total of $15.6 million. PPS didn’t budge from that offer in six months of negotiations. Faced with the threat of privatization, the union bargaining team agreed to ac- cept $2.4 million of that cut, but the dis- trict decided to pursue the whole $4.5 million cut by outsourcing the depart- ment. Armony said he expects bargaining will again be hard-fought when custo- dians return. This time, it’s clear the district can’t legally privatize. But it can declare im- passe and impose its offer, if and when bargaining breaks down. Then the union would be faced with the choice to strike or take concessions. The PPS Board has asked district management to keep the custodial de- partment budget to $16 or $17 million. Four years ago it was $18 million. In all likelihood, there will be fewer custodi- ans to do the same work. 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