Southwest Tennessee CC should reject plans for outsourcing
2015, when I heard that local jobs in Memphis were being threatened by our Governor’s plan to outsource state facilities management, I took immediate action. Along with 74 other state legislators I spoke up for working people, many of whom have dedicated decades of service to the state of Tennessee. Now, I’m speaking out again for Southwest Tennessee Community College employees.
For over two years, thousands of facility service workers experienced unsettling instability as Gov. Haslam allowed a private corporation, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), an all-access pass to evaluate our state buildings and parks. In those two years, JLL attempted to sell our state institutions a false story of savings and efficiency through their private sub-contracted management. Not only were the savings unverifiable, but in the company’s own request for proposals, JLL stated that workers could lose their current posisourcing tions, state benefits, tuition benefits, and job protections.
Southwest workers are facing this same threat now. State workers who are the backbone of our economy -custodians, maintenance workers, locksmiths, electricians, HVAC mechanics, among others -- could suddenly find themselves at the mercy of an out-of-state corporation. The risk was too great for me to stay quiet.
Thankfully, the risk and cost to the public servants of this great state were taken seriously by the heads of our state institutions, especially our fouryear universities like University of Tennessee Health Science Center and University of Memphis. Both of these local campuses, along with several other schools, rejected the governor and JLL’s proposal to outsource and should be publicly applauded for their decisions.
Now, less than 10 months after the decision by these campuses to opt-out, it appears that our governor is yet again pushing his outsourcing agenda, but this time at our community colleges. We know privatization doesn’t work in Memphis. We need look no further than the disastrous results of outIn in Shelby County Schools.
Facilities service workers are part of our community and deserve to be appreciated, not privatized. Without their work our college campuses would be unsafe, unclean and possibly not up to code. It is shameful that some look at these men and women and see a disposable workforce. Here in Memphis, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of the dignity of all work, including sanitation. The work of our facilities services staff matters.
When I was elected, I was considered an underdog, just like many of the hardworking Memphians that I represent. It’s my job to listen to my constituents and intercede when they have concerns. I take that job very seriously. I believe we must protect good jobs and we must make good jobs better.
Memphis, and Southwest College, are at crossroads, and we must choose the right path. I urge the president of Southwest Tennessee Community College, Dr. Tracy Hall, to be a voice for the underdog, too. Reject outsourcing and stand up for the working people of Memphis.
Antonio Parkinson is a state representative, District 98.