Anonymous Contributing Writer
Hello, I would like to take the time to tell you a little bit about me. I am in custodial and have been since 2019. When I came to the college I had just left a job that I was at for some years. At the last place at which I had worked, they decided to outsource us. I was devastated. I started the year with weeks of vacation and with one “simple” decision it was gone. Healthcare was no longer provided to us. Long story short, I left to come to the College of Wooster because I was told what a wonderful place it would be and that it was like a family. It was great. I worked from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. [A close colleague] of mine worked 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the residential side. We both were so happy with our jobs. The benefits were unbelievable. Then Covid happened. And things changed. We had some people who were furloughed for the summer which was due to covid. And when the school year started we were told they could only return if they came back on 2nd shift. That made us lose quite a few workers – some who had been there many years. Then they brought in ABM, a cleaning company that was there to help us.
No one could understand why they couldn’t have helped by filling in the second shift so we wouldn’t have lost so many good workers. I had a feeling this was opening the door for a future of working for a cleaning company. We were reassured that wasn’t the case. Now, [one of our managers] did tell us that he couldn’t say that it wouldn’t happen down the road to cover their butts. I had heard [another manager] was known for doing this in previous places he worked. It was a week after we came back from New years that they announced we were being outsourced. People were in complete shock and total devastation. This was a place we had loved to come to. And I will just say summer cleaning is not any of our favorite parts of the job; it’s hard, hot work and it is exhausting but the benefits we had made everything worth it. Now we are losing people because they don’t want to work for a cleaning company. And what once had a crew of dependable people will now be turning to a revolving door of people who won’t be as invested. This is sad but it is the reality. There are no loyal jobs anymore. This happened to me before, that’s why I came here and now I am going through this all over again. I love caring for the college students’ halls and classrooms but unfortunately I will be one of the ones leaving. Please keep my name anonymous if you would. With great respect, thank you for listening to me.
