TAMPA, Fla. — Close to 100 frustrated custodial workers for Hillsborough County Schools on Tuesday protested a district proposal to outsource their jobs to a private contractor.
"It's very stressful. And you can't sleep at night because you're worrying in a couple of months you won't have a job,” said Angel Johnson, who’s been a custodian with the district for three years. “I'm barely making it as it is with my four daughters. I'm a single mother. It's hard enough for me."
In late March, the district sent out a request for proposals to solicit bids from companies willing to provide custodial services for the district. The move shocked many of the district’s custodians, some of whom have been with the districts for years.
RELATED: Read the request for bids
"We have family members. We enjoy our jobs, and we don't want to lose it to a private company,” said custodian James Bryant, who said he has less than three years until retirement. "I don't want to lose my job because of privatization."
District spokeswoman, Tanya Arja, said the fears are slightly premature, since the district has not yet decided if they will go through with outsourcing.
“Nothing is changing at this time, and we don’t know if anything will change,” she said. "We would get information back from these companies to tell us exactly what they could provide, how much it would cost, and from there is when we would go back and look at if there are any benefits to this for the district."
The cash-strapped district said the move could save them millions as they struggle to cover costs as state education funding dwindles.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 29 states had less per-pupil state funding than they did in 2008 before the recession.
Overall, privatization in education is a trend happening across the nation. As education funding dwindles, more districts are outsourcing to cut costs or to increase efficiency. However, local union representatives say this often ends up hurting people who depend on these jobs the most.
"That company comes in, they cut the workforce, they start their own application process, they hire who they want to. They will come in, they will clean the schools, and they will do it with half the manpower,” said Stephanie MacNeel, vice president of the Hillsborough School Employees Federation, which represents custodians, bus drivers, maintenance and student nutrition workers.
“This is a piece of union-busting here in Hillsborough County,” she said. "Once they start with custodial, the plan is student nutrition, the plan is bus drivers, the plan is maintenance. It doesn't just stop with custodial. Their plan is to completely get rid of anyone they can with outsourcing."
MacNeel also said an outsourcing plan that impacts workers could also have a disproportionate impact on the district’s black and Hispanic staff. "The district claims to be a supporter of minorities and of women…and you want to get rid of the largest number of minorities in the whole workforce, which is custodial, and student nutrition? Ninety percent of custodians are minorities. Sixty-two percent of them are women."
The RFP application is open through April 17.The school board will review the proposals and make a decision after that date. “The RFP will get the information back to us on exactly what these companies believe they could do for our district. But we also want to look at the whole person, too,” said Arja. “The RFP is something we have to provide back to the [school] board, but we’re not just looking at the RFP and the dollar savings, we’re looking at the individual people as well…We won’t just look at a financial reason to do anything.”
The district said if a bid is accepted, current custodial staff can remain in their current positions through the 2019-2020 school year.
Emerald Morrow is a reporter with 10News WTSP. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@wtsp.com.
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