Metro School Board Outsources Janitorial Jobs

At the end of May this year, the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board approved plans to outsource approximately 700 custodial and janitorial jobs. I know first hand how hard Metro custodians and janitors work and how concerned and involved they are in students everyday life. My best friend Veronica is a custodial supervisor for Metro and she has worked for Metro for about 11 yrs. At one point we rode to work together everyday for almost a year. I would drive from my home to her home and she would drive us to work, dropping me off first at my job as an Accounting Clerk then driving herself to work as a custodial supervisor at a local elementary school. Every day for almost a year I rode with her and she never missed a day.

Of course she would talk to me about her work before we started riding together, when we would talk over the weekend. I knew what her job entailed, what her duties were and how she dealt with a whole school full of elementary students daily. I learned even more when we rode to work together for that year. I listened to her stories good or bad, about the people she worked with, the students she loved, what part of her job she liked and her daily interaction with the educators at her job. I knew she loved her job and she had the patience of Job when it came to the children. She took pride in the work she did and took her duties and responsibilities very seriously. She was dedicated to ensuring that the children of Metro had a clean and safe environment to learn in. I loved hearing her stories and giving her advice sometimes when she needed it. She looked forward to working for Metro until she retired, and I was happy that she had a job that she enjoyed. She never complained that she had to work all year while the staff and children were out for the summer. It was part of her job and responsibility, and she enjoyed the look of satisfaction and pleasure she saw in the faces of the staff when they returned to work.

I was shocked when she gave me the call and told me her job would be ending. I couldn’t believe it. She told me to watch the news that evening for all the details, that I would see her on TV at a meeting regarding her job. As I watched the news that evening I discovered that her job and the others would be outsourced to an Ohio based company called GCA Services Group. Many non- supporters of the outsourcing plan have concerns about background checks, the safety of students, and wage and benefit cuts of Metro employees. GCA plans to offer the janitors employment, with a cut in benefits and wages, and many are now pondering their futures.

I decided to do a little investigating regarding this plan, GCA and who exactly was behind this whole outsourcing deal. My next post will reveal more about this and GCA.

Whose Side Are Republicans On Anyway?

I couldn't believe my ears the other day when Republican Texas Rep. Joe Barton apologized to BP. He said " I'm speaking totally for myself, I'm not speaking for the Republican party, but I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said "He deemed it a tragedy of the first proportion, that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, a $20 billion shakedown."

Under pressure no doubt from his cronies and constituents, Rep. Barton tried to put the toothpaste back into the tube with an apology. "I apologize for using the term shakedown with regard to yesterday's actions at the White House in my opening statements this morning, and I retract my apology to BP, " said Barton. Well I thought to myself, poor BP, it's a good thing they have Rep. Barton to defend them against the Big Bad White House.

Republican Rep. Tom Price of Georgia said "BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting it's brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics," Shakedown politics Rep. Price? The same type of politics BP used to corrupt the MMS, Rep. Price? The same politics that allowed BP to lobby against any type of energy bill Rep. Price?

Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota put her two cents in and called the $20 billion escrow fund a "redistribution-of-wealth fund."

Since President Obama managed to secure an escrow account that willl pay out $20 billion in funds from BP to fishermen and businesses hurt financially from the oil spill, Republicans are crawling out of the woodwork defending BP. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh called the fund a "slush fund." The BP Gulf Oil Spill no doubt is one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. Americans want politicians to put their politics aside, defend Americans and America. What would you call a politician that defends a corporation over Americans and America? Un-American? Whose side are Republicans on anyway?