School Board Approves New Custodial Plan
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JACKSON, Tenn.- The Jackson-Madison County School Board approves a big change affecting dozens of district workers. They have approved getting rid of every custodial position and hiring a private business to take over those duties. Workers and their families are worried, but many district leaders said overall it could be a good thing because jobs would not be lost and the district could save nearly $2 million over 5-years. The fate of 61 jobs with the Jackson-Madison County School System. was the focus of Thursday night’s board meeting. “I think it’s obvious from the questions tonight we are all very concerned about the welfare of our people and I think that is appropriate,” said board member Jim Campbell. The company, GCS Services wants to take over all of the district’s custodial services. Representatives said it would hire all the district’s current workers, if they pass a background check. Board members were curious about proposed wages and retirement plans. “I think we need to understand there may be some people that make slightly less,” said Campbell. Dr. Verna Ruffin said current custodial workers start at $8.14 an hour. Under GCS, staff could make slightly less, but she could not say by how much. Another concern is retirement. With the new contract the 61 employee would no longer get the state’s contribution to their retirement which is 14 percent. GCS would only match up to 3percent of their 401-K. “Our first step is to meet with our employee’s to make sure there is no confusion, so that they understand how this process will be done in a transitional plan,” said JMC School Superintendent Dr. Verna Ruffin. WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News spoke with several custodial staff off camera who were very emotional after the 7-2 vote in favor of contract negotiations with GCS. They are most worried of losing a lot of their retirement funds. “I understand that and what we want to do is this week my staff and I sit down with them on an indy basis and go over what that could mean,” said Dr. Ruffin. Dr. Ruffin said this change could be better for workers looking to move up to management positions. GCS also reassured board members and employee’s that current custodial staff would not be removed from the school they are in. Dr. Ruffin said negotiations will begin immediately.
