November 13, 2022
Local labor groups are concerned that moving towards privatization will divide custodial workers and undermine their ability to collectively bargain.

MU Board of Curators issued a Request for Proposals on the UM System website Oct. 12, aiming to contract out certain custodial positions on campus to an external vendor. Local groups, including Missouri Jobs with Justice, have argued the request will hurt union efforts on campus and decrease custodial workers’ ability to collectively bargain.

There are two options offered to potential contracting firms. The first includes six buildings, which are currently privatized and serviced by Velociti Services. These buildings will be replaced with a new vendor after their contract expires. The second option will expand existing privatization by adding 10 buildings in addition to the original six. These 10 buildings are currently serviced by MU employees — not by a vendor.

According to MU News Bureau Director Christian Basi, the Request for Proposals was sent out in response to staffing shortages the university has faced.

“The important thing to note with all of is that no current university employees’ positions are at risk, and this is simply replacing a vendor and not additional jobs,” Basi said. “Saying that, we have needed to do this because we have been unable to fill other empty positions.”

Basi said if a new vendor was brought on, employees currently working in privatized buildings would move elsewhere on campus. He said hours will not be cut for any custodial workers.

“If anything, what we have done in the past year is we’ve had significant merit raises,” Basi said. “We have been adding to our employee pool, whether it’s faculty or staff. We have shortages, we are not cutting staff.”

Full-time MU employees are eligible to organize under a union called Local Laborers (LiUNA) 955. According to Andrew Hutchinson, the Public Employees Field Representative, LiUNA 955 has always stood against privatization.

“Public sector jobs carry with them usually good retirement benefits, decent health insurance, decent wages,” Hutchinson said. “With privatizing [sic] or outsourcing, the goal is almost always to save money. And if you’re saving money, the cuts have to come somewhere. That usually comes in the form of worse working conditions, worse wages and worse benefits.”

According to Hutchinson, MU has made it clear no jobs will be impacted by the current Request for Proposals. LiUNA 955 is not currently involved in any campaign related to the request.

Drew Amidei is a former MU graduate student who serves as the mid-Missouri organizer for Jobs with Justice — a coalition organization that works with both community and union member organizations. Amidei said standing against privatization is a key part of Jobs with Justice’s pledge to support the right of workers organizing and bargaining collectively.

“Our concerns are really long-term,” Amidei said. “We understand that there’s a staffing issue, but the way to solve that is not outsourcing these buildings. Because once those buildings are outsourced, it’s going to be very difficult for us to claw that back. The university is not going to want to give up privatization.”

Amidei emphasized the importance of workers’ voices when addressing staffing shortages. He encouraged MU to communicate with unions and ask for workers’ thoughts on filling vacant positions, rather than outsourcing.

He said this approach will lead to better community results.

“Workers that are exercising their collective bargaining rights are better workers,” Amidei said. “They stick around longer, they’re better trained, they generally have better working conditions and so they’re happier and more productive.”

Privatized employees are eligible to organize under LiUNA 955. However, according to Crystal Mahaney, Communications Director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, outsourcing still impacts workers’ ability to collectively bargain.

“Whenever positions are outsourced and a part of private entities, their benefits can just be slashed with a quick vote or based on the will of a private corporation,” Mahaney said.

According to Mahaney, outsourcing is a way of turning over a public good to a private entity and will kick open the door for further privatization.

“It’s often really sort of penny wise and pound foolish,” Mahaney said. “It’s great as a way to help the budget in the short term. But in the long term, it’s putting in jeopardy what kinds of jobs we want workers to be able to have at a public institution.”

Oct. 28, Amidei and other members of Jobs with Justice gathered with students and community members to disrupt a tour held for potential contractors.

Around 25 people showed up with posters and a banner including representatives from mid-Missouri Jobs with Justice, the Coalition of Graduate Workers, and the MU branch of Young Democratic Socialists of America.

“I’m here in solidarity with Jobs with Justice,” said James Warta, the Outreach Officer and Organizing and Grievance Officer of the Coalition of Graduate Workers. “Campus facility workers are responsible for my working conditions. Just making sure that they’re supported is in my self-interest.”

However, members did not end up disrupting the tour due to a miscalculation involving the route.
After an hour of waiting, attendees took a group picture and dispersed. Members of Jobs with Justice decorated buildings with posters — featuring messages such as “contractors go home” and “don’t outsource, pay your workforce”.

This is not the first time Jobs with Justice has protested custodial outsourcing on campus. In 2020, it organized the Stop the Cuts Coalition to protest the privatization of over 300 custodial and landscaping jobs.

According to Mahaney, the coalition led a grassroots and direct action campaign, which included rallies and generating contact with the administration to pressure it to abandon its privatization goals.
After 73 days, MU announced it would no longer outsource those positions.

Amidei said Jobs with Justice is currently planning next steps to address the current Request for Proposals — nothing is currently set in stone.

“We’re going to keep pressuring them, and we’re not going to back down,” Amidei said. “Because we know that if they privatize these buildings now, those jobs are essentially going to be gone to the public sector for the foreseeable future.”

Edited by Zoe Homan | zhoman@themaneater.com
Copy Edited by Grace Knight and Julia Williams

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