Workers rally for lost jobs

Twelve custodians working in the Queens headquarters of the Department of Education (DOE) were recently laid off without proper notice, said the union representing them. On Wednesday, October 15, the workers gathered in front of the building, at 44-36 Vernon Boulevard, in Long Island City, to say they want their jobs back.
The company that laid them off is Temco Service Industries, a Manhattan-based entity which has been providing custodian services for the DOE for years. Temco offers these services through renewable contracts. In the new contract, the DOE called for a smaller scope of services, which in turn required Temco to eliminate staff positions, explained Roland Tomforde, spokesperson for Temco.
“We know the city is facing tough economic times, but Temco and the DOE acted irresponsibly in deciding to hastily cut more than 50 percent of the building’s cleaning force,” said Hector Figueroa, secretary-treasurer of Local 32BJ Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, most of whom are from outside Queens.
The dismissals came without the proper two-week notice and that’s why this is such a big problem, said Kwame Patterson, spokesperson for Local 32BJ. “Treat people accordingly, not like they’re line items that you can scratch out,” he said.
The termination letters issued by Temco are dated October 1 and they inform the employees that their positions will be eliminated as of October 14.
However, eight of the dismissed employees told their union that they received their letters a few days after October 1, which makes their notice shorter than the required two weeks, Patterson explained.
Another four employees informed the union that they did not even receive the termination letters - they were only told that they would be dismissed as of October 14 and the verbal notification came after October 1, Patterson added.
Temco disputed that. “It is my understanding - and I’ve talked to Temco management about that - that each worker was given proper termination notice,” said Tomforde.
But handyman Joseph Adams, who is among the dismissed workers, told The Courier that he wasn’t given any notice at all. When he went to work on October 14, his supervisor told him that he would be terminated as of that day because of cutbacks imposed on Temco by the DOE, Adams recalled.
The part of the custodian crew that remains on the job - a total of nine people - will now have a difficult time too, said Patterson. “This building is massive. To cut half of the cleaning staff, that means you put more strain on these workers,” explained Patterson. “Now they have to pick up the slack for a whole other person that doesn’t exist.”
Local 32BJ plans more demonstrations until the 12 custodians are returned to their jobs, said Patterson.