Union voices job concerns

By Harold Gwin

Employees fear bringing in a management company might cost them their jobs.

YOUNGSTOWN — Noncertified city school employees are asking for some loyalty from the city school board.

Concerns that the board may opt to bring in a private company to manage the district’s food service program prompted representatives of American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Local 1143 to address a school board business committee meeting Tuesday.

Lou Cappitti, former president of the union and a district custodian, said the AFSCME members have always been at the forefront in responding to the district’s needs.

The employees realize that there is no money for pay raises, but they are looking for some show of loyalty from the board, and talk about bringing in a company to run the food service program has them concerned, he said.

Doing that would damage employee morale, Cappitti said, adding that any management company promises of significant cost reductions or sales increases may be only “paper promises.”

“You have a good operation here,” he said. The food service program run by district employees has turned over $3 million to the district over a 10-year period, he said. If the program isn’t broke, don’t fix it, he told the committee.

The district — dealing with a $10.4 million general fund budget deficit this year — has recovered from financial problems in the past and will do so again, Cappitti predicted.

“You need good and valuable employees when the smoke clears,” he said.

Food service is just one area being examined by the business committee as it looks for ways to reduce spending.

The committee has had a preliminary report from Sodexho School Services, a management company providing assistance to schools and colleges, that suggested Youngstown might be able to boost its revenues by $250,000 to $300,000 a year through increased student participation, said Michael Murphy, committee chairman.

Both he and committee member Lock P. Beachum Sr. said they would take the union’s position into consideration.

However, Beachum cautioned that the board has to look everywhere it can to save money.

Still, he said he would oppose any effort to try to break the AFSCME contract.

Food service is a $4 million-a-year business in the district.

Sodexho is based in Gaithersburg, Md. According to its Web site, Sodexho is a leading integrated food and facilities management services company in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with $7.3 billion in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. Sodexho serves more than 10 million customers daily in corporations, health care, long-term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, government and remote sites.

Sodexho has indicated that, should it get a contract with the city schools, the current district employees would remain district employees with no job losses.

Sodexho would be looking for a one-year contract, a company representative told the committee.

Tony DeNiro, assistant superintendent for school business affairs, said he is aware of two other companies interested in managing the district’s food service program. If the board decides to go that route, the job would have to be put out for bid, he said.

gwin@vindy.com