It's great that Portland Public Schools has decided to provide minimum wage summer jobs for a some of its high school students.
It's not so great that those jobs come at the expense of full time school custodians. I mean, didn't the district just reach an agreement with the custodians' union? It did, of course, but apparently the district had other things in mind --like "...reducing its full-time permanent custodial workforce by 40 positions."
Rotten deal? Well, the laid off workers were offered the option of part time employment at $11.01 per hour (where'd that penny come from?) ...with "no benefits". If those part time workers get sick and need a doctor, well, tough luck. The district has a budget to meet. And student achievement test scores to worry about.
District mouthpiece Sarah Carlin Ames explains the hiring of high school students as an extension of a "tradition of hiring students for summer help": "This summer we are expanding on
that past practice and offering more students short-term, part-time
work. ... This could tie nicely into our Career Pathways work experience
"Nicely"? Sounds like more anti-union (and heartless) double talk to me.
program... ."
(Thanks to Lynn Schore for the link.)
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