Workers protest Bush's plan to farm out some state jobs

Private firms would fill 54 janitorial jobs. State workers say the plan is unfair and deprives them of benefits.

By DIANE RADO

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 18, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- An Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam, Willie Houston cleans bathrooms, empties trash cans and does other janitorial work for the state. His salary, about $12,000 a year, gives him some extra cash after military retirement.

Now, Houston, 52, and several dozen custodial employees, many worse off financially than he, could be out of their state jobs under Gov. Jeb Bush's push to give government work to the private sector.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a lowdown, dirty shame," said Houston, who has been cleaning the Florida Department of Law Enforcement building in the capital for about four years. "I've been in a war, put my life on the line, and I have to come here and deal with this kind of bull."

"They're dealing with people who have no voice, no nothing," he said.

The Department of Management Services, or DMS, confirmed Thursday that it will be notifying at least 54 state custodial workers today that Florida is looking to give janitorial work to private firms.

The employees earn an average of $17,838 a year, according to DMS salary data, but some earn as little as $11,000. The employees who are affected work in four state buildings: FDLE, and the Turlington building that houses the state Education Department in Tallahassee; the Hurston Building in Orlando; and the Rohde Building in Miami.

Bush recommended the privatization, estimating it would affect 71 jobs and save the state $550,884 in the fiscal year beginning July 1. The Legislature went along with the plan when it approved a state budget this spring. Bids already have been requested for the work.

Management Services spokeswoman Kathleen Anders said the employees could be placed in another agency building or at another state agency, or they could become employees of private firms taking over the janitorial work.

But it's clear that not everyone will retain their state jobs, which may come with low pay but also offer health benefits. State employees say that janitorial work at private firms are likely to be part-time jobs without benefits.

Custodial worker Catherine Burke, a state employee for eight years, said the main reason she wanted a state job was for the benefits. She once worked as a part-time janitor and didn't get any benefits. But Anders asked, "Is it our job to make sure they have benefits?" If state employees hired by private firms can only get part-time work, then perhaps "They'll have to get another part-time job," to make ends meet, she said.

"I think as government, our main goal is to run it efficiently, to be servants of the taxpayers and do that in the wisest way we can," Anders said.

The privatization plan affecting low-paid custodial workers has set off particularly strong feelings in a state government town already reeling from Bush's civil service reforms and push for privatization.

Education department employees were particularly distressed this week -- one supervisor went home early -- upon learning that three cleaning women at the building could be out of their jobs June 30.

State law enforcement officials also have also expressed concern, because they need to be able to trust custodians to be in their offices. Houston said he and other workers had to go undergo criminal background checks to be able to work in the FDLE building.

Most of his his co-workers are middle-aged black people who have four or five children. "These people are concerned about just paying basic bills, like electricity," he said.

"We're so far down on the totem pole, what can we do but take whatever they decide to dish out."

Anders said the agency will not move forward if it finds that private firms will cost the state more than using state employees for work.

In addition, she thinks that all employees will end up in some kind of job, whether with the state or with private firms.

"This governor wants to make sure everybody is placed somewhere," Anders said.

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