[Publib] Custodial Workers

[Backwage at aol.com]

It is interesting that this line of commentary has come up here.  The  
provision of custodial services often makes for some strange and not always  
pleasant arrangements in public libraries.
 
Many libraries (for that matter, many public agencies overall) have  
outsourced their cleaning and maintenance functions.  This is done to save  money, 
directly and in the way of administrative costs.  In this way the  library or 
other agency rids itself of the burdens, real and perceived, of  having employees 
do that work.
 
Oddly enough, most library workers don't oppose this, which is strange,  
considering that they would howl like mad if their own jobs were outsourced to  
the private sector.  Another unsavory aspect of these arrangements is that  the 
hired workers are beyond the control of the public agency--their wages,  
benefits and conditions of work are determined by their own employer, and very  few 
custodial firms are what you'd call generous.  When an agency uses an  
outside contractor to perform work, they do so to save money; the savings come  out 
of the flesh of people who do the work.  This is a situation that  library 
workers, particularly unionized ones, should not accept lying  down.
 
Not too many years ago I worked for a public agency that used an outside  
service to clean its offices after hours.  I stayed very late one night  writing 
reports and discovered a family of five doing the cleaning,  including three 
children, all under sixteen.  The cleaning company hired  the parents to do the 
work, and they permitted them to do it any way they could  to save money.  
Later on, I investigated quite a few firms working on  federal contracts that 
did the same thing, and worse.
 
Public agency employees shouldn't support this sort of thing, even by their  
silence.  Ask your custodial people, whether they are outsourced or not,  what 
they earn.  Ask if they have benefits.  See what kind of hours  they work.  
You may be in for some surprises.
 
M. McGrorty
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/publib/attachments/20060802/007e4363/attachment.htm