Union Takes Outsourcing Battle to the Social Media Front

After pleading their case before the microphone at several public meetings, members of the North Kingstown Educational Support Professionals (ESP) union are using another avenue to speak out against the privatization of the school district's custodial staff.

Using an online petition on change.org, the group has amassed 812 signatures to protest the . The decision, made June 25, rejected an arbitrator's award that, according to Superintendent Phil Auger, fell short of the roughly $600,000 in concessions the school department would need to balance the fiscal 2012 budget days before it ended.

In the online petition, ESP member Sandie Blankenship claimed that the school committee's decision to outsource was "not about the money," as ESP reportedly offered $1.3 million in concessions.

"It is about power and the capacity of the powerful to limit workers from having any say about their working conditions," the petition reads. "It's about silencing our voices. But we will not be silenced."

Though the school district's 26 custodians have been let go, the school committee stated at its June 25 meeting that there was a "verbal agreement" with GCA, stipulating that the company will hire back all of the current custodians as long as they pass a background check. According to school officials, the custodians will be hired at the company's "enhanced wage."

"We also have serious concerns about the company the five committee members plan to hire: GCA Services," said Blankenship in her petition. "Their record troubles us. Independent news services – found with a quick Google search - have documented the serious problems with GCA, including hiring and placing a registered sex offender in a Texas middle school despite GCA’s screening efforts."

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