LOCAL
Thurston officials urged to reconsider on contracting out
The decision by Valenzuela and Wolfe to contract out the jobs has earned scorn not only from county employees and their union, but also from the Thurston County Democratic Party. Citing their party platform that supports “the right of everyone to earn a living wage for a hard day’s work,” the Democrats approved a resolution last week opposing the move and urging the commissioners to negotiate an alternative solution with the custodians and their union, the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, AFSCME.
“It’s hard to fathom why, at a time when progressive elected officials are embracing raising minimum wages, that the county would target custodians and their families,” said J. Pat Thompson, the union’s deputy director. “It is equally perplexing that the county is spending considerable resources to assist those in need only to create more need by exploiting its own workforce. In makes no sense for the county to build a social safety net at the same time it’s throwing its own employees into it.”
“I believe we’ve not looked at all the factors in this shift,” Romero said. “We’ve not worked with our employees to help find the savings. Let’s do it right.”
Thompson said the union tried to cooperate in achieving a sustainable budget, but their efforts were rebuffed.
Our union is fully aware of the county’s financial situation and has offered to partner with the county to address the 2014 budget shortfall. We repeatedly asked to make up the shortfall with overall concessions but Karen Valenzuela, led by biased management staff, has insisted that the one and only option was to turn over the entire custodial department to a for-profit contractor.
TAKE A STAND! If you live or work in Thurston County, click here to go to the County Commissioners’ website where you can send a message to all three urging them to reconsider contracting out the county’s custodial staff. Tell them to work with the union to find an alternative budget solution.