MEA VOICE Privatization News
Response teams in place to fight threats
MEA Anti-Privatization Task Force activated teams this spring to serve all parts of the state.
Crisis response teams stand ready to
fight privatization threats targeting
the jobs of MEA support staff members
throughout the state.
MEA’s Anti-Privatization Task Force activated the teams this spring in an effort to dissuade school boards from turning the jobs of loyal school employees over to private companies out to make sizable profits.
The response team concept works well, said MEA UniServ director Mike Schroeder of Berrien Springs. Schroeder belongs to the Southern Zone’s crisis team that fought privatizing 23 custodial jobs in Marshall this summer.
“With a team approach, we’re able to combine the brainpower and creativity of all team members,” he said. “Team members do the leg work and share the work that needs to get done.”
Response teams consist of UniServ directors—
but not the director representing
the affected local—and school employees
threatened with privatization.
If not for the response team concept, the responsibilities would fall on a single UniServ director—in Marshall’s case, Ken Leche.
“We couldn’t have accomplished much without help from the response team,” Leche said. “Like most UniServ directors, I’m negotiating several contracts at once. It would have been overwhelming.”
Leche appreciated the help. “These UniServ directors took time from their own busy work schedules in a time of crisis to try to save the jobs of MEA members. They did a great job. Now, more than ever, we need these crisis response teams.”
Marshall response team members developed and executed a sound plan to garner community support against the school board’s reckless action to privatize the custodial jobs. They utilized flyers in newspapers, radio and TV ads and a mass mailing to voters to alert the community of the school board’s intentions.
These efforts attracted an outpouring of support for the custodians in a community wracked by the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs in recent years.
“Marshall is a small town where everyone feels like family,” Tom Duffey, Marshall Teachers Association president, said. “Our custodians are part of our education family and active members in this community, and we didn’t want them to lose their jobs. It’s just wrong.”
In the end, though, Marshall Superintendent Joyce Phillips and school board members were hellbent on privatizing the custodians’ positions. On Aug. 13, the board voted 7-0 to hand their jobs over to a for-profit company from Grand Rapids.
Crestfallen over the decision, Marshall ESPA President Gordy Coats and custodian Johnnie Weakley still took time to thank MEA and the response team.
“We are really grateful for the support from MEA,” Weakley said. “They were there from the start for us and did everything we asked.”