An outsourcing trend

On Thursday, the Democrat-Gazette reported on the layoffs of nine workers at the state Capitol. These people were on the night maintenance staff. They earned from $26,000 to $28,860 per year, according to the article. A 10th worker resigned before the layoff notices were delivered.

The work is being outsourced to a company named 21st Century Janitorial Service. It will be paid $20,928 per month.

Assuming for simplicity that all 10 workers were at the $28,860 level, their wages for 12 months would have totaled $288,600. The outside company’s payments will total $251,136.

A spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin said that the outsourcing would save about $100,000 a year. The discrepancy of roughly $60,000 was not explained, but I assume it represents savings from benefits that won’t be paid.

Saving tax dollars is a good goal, but this action seems to me terribly hard-hearted.

At their salaries, the 10 employees were probably among the working poor. Even if they find new jobs at similar pay, they are unlikely to find similar levels of health and retirement coverage. Perhaps some will be able to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act, but that option may disappear soon.

This kind of outsourcing is no different from what companies everywhere are doing now. I am afraid that those of us not directly hurt by this trend are becoming very callous. MARY LOWE KENNEDY Little Rock