SACRAMENTO, Calif. — About a hundred SMF custodian employees are concerned about the future of their job. Some of them have disabilities and for the past 11 years, the county has contracted a local nonprofit to help keep them employed. However, the county is ending that contract and choosing a new company that's headquartered out of state.
SMF is a busy place and many people don't think twice about who keeps the place clean. A close look will show PRIDE Industries has played a big role in the airport's cleanliness.
"Over 35% of our employees have disabilities at the airport. For our company..., we're about over 50% of our employees have disabilities," said Jeff Dern, CEO of PRIDE Industries.
On Tuesday, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors decided PRIDE's time at SMF was over.
"We've been visiting with our team the last few days, letting them know about the bad news," said Dern.
County staff weighed the options between PRIDE and Tennessee-based company, Total Maintenance Management (TMM).
"It looks like the indirect cost, overhead and profit, for PRIDE was about 213% more," said county staff.
On top of the cost, Supervisor Rich Desmond expressed concerns about the quality of work.
"Performance issues, there were some issues regarding performance," said Desmond.
County staff confirmed those issues had been ongoing.
"They've (PRIDE) been penalized in all but one month for failure to meet the goals that they themselves set," said Cindy Nichol, Department of Airports director.
However, Dern doesn't agree.
"We're very proud of our performance. Our performance scores have only gone up and up and up the last three years," said Dern.
Current employees showed up to Tuesday's meeting to voice their concerns about the possibility of losing their jobs.
"We are here today to ask the Sacramento Board of Supervisors to protect jobs for people with disabilities and support PRIDE Industries," said Carol Compton.
TMM's CEO told the board that retaining current employees is their priority.
"We will fully comply with the displaced janitors act and it's not only TMM's intent, but it's our intent to transition all existing PRIDE employees," said Dave Shultis, vice president of TMM Housekeeping.
In a three to two vote, the board moved ahead with awarding TMM the new contract. While it's not something Dern wanted to hear, he says he's always open to working with SMF again.
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