Supervisors’ Vote to Switch to Private Janitorial Services Prompts Protest

In a cost-saving move that will help fund a new temporary jail, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday decided to replace 35 county staff custodians with privately employed janitors--and, in so doing, confronted what one supervisor termed the “human side of budget cuts.”

Although the board action is expected to save the county about $159,000 annually, several supervisors emphasized that they approved the shift to private custodial services with reluctance because of the impending layoffs that are an unpleasant byproduct of their vote.

“At budget time, it’s easy for us to reduce numbers,” Supervisor Brian Bilbray said. “But this affects human beings . . . and it’s tough when you have to look them in the face.”

Before the board’s debate, more than 50 custodians and their families protested the proposed contracting out of custodial services in a brief demonstration in front of the County Administration Center. Waving signs saying, “Cut Big Salaries, Not Our Jobs” and “From the Picket Line to the Unemployment Line,” the custodians made a final plea to the supervisors to preserve their jobs.

“We cannot believe that . . . dollars and cents are the only thing involved in public service,” said Wyleen Luoma, general manager of the San Diego County Employees Assn. “Find another way to bring about these savings rather than one with such a human cost.”

County administrators, however, noted that all county departments have been asked to reduce their budgets to help finance a planned $6-million, 600-bed temporary men’s jail in Santee next to the Las Colinas women’s jail, which also is to be expanded. As part of that budget review, the county’s General Services Department determined that “custodial services was an area where service can be provided more economically and efficiently by an independent contractor,” according to a county report.

And, while the supervisors were discomforted by the prospective job losses, Bilbray reminded his colleagues: “There comes a time when it’s time to put up.” The shift to contract custodial services was approved by a 4-1 vote, with only Supervisor Leon Williams opposing it.

Sixteen of the 35 custodians affected by Tuesday’s action already have been placed in other county jobs, and county administrators said that they hope to minimize the job loss by trying to do the same with at least some of the remaining custodians. But even union officials admitted that the custodians’ limited educational backgrounds and training generally curtail the other job options available to them.

“Where does a custodian go?” union official Luoma asked rhetorically. “Without these jobs . . . it’s a downhill slide for these folks.”

The custodians’ average annual salary is $13,000 to $16,000, she added.