Newt sticks to his wacky plan to fire school janitors and let kids do the work and get paid for it. They can use the money, and it will teach them the value of work and self-reliance. He even figured out that 30 kids could do the work of one janitor.
Like many of Newt's "big ideas," this one sounds good at first glance. But there are problems.
First, according to janitors who actually do this work, it's not a job for kids. Maybe emptying waste baskets or sweeping and dusting. But it also includes mixing chemicals of cleaning products, running heavy floor-polishing machines, maintaining the heating/air conditioning system, moving around huge containers of waste, as well as being responsible for the security of buildings when working after hours.
Second, Newt claims that unionized janitors "make an absurd amount of money." The Teamsters union, which represents janitors in New Hampshire where Newt was giving this speech, says salaries begin at $16.86 an hour or $28,324 a year. That's only $500 a month above the official poverty level for a family of four. Hardly "absurd." And the top wage for janitors in this union is $25.41 an hour. Still not absurd. What's absurd is this critique from a man who made $1.6 million for giving what he called "advice as a historian" to Freddie Mac.
Third, the janitor you fire is now out of work, perhaps with a family to support with kids of his own. So you've increased joblessness and put another family on unemployment and perhaps food stamps.
Way to go, Newt.
Why not, instead, create a work-study program. Let the kids do work they are suited for as janitor's helpers, if they wish, or file clerks in the office; and get paid an appropriate amount out of a grant to teach these work values that Newt wants to foster? Don't fire people in a time of high unemployment. Think a little bigger, Newt.
Ralph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A similar situation as Newt suggested happened in British Columbia. The unpopular 'Liberal' government (9% approval rating) nuked the collective agreement signed by trained unionized janitors.
ReplyDeletePreviously paid $18 per hour, janitorial jobs were outsourced to the private sector at just above minimal wage.
The result? As you noted Ralph, many impacted were left unemployed, new poorly trained janitors with meagre benefits are overworked with no job security. This has caused cleanliness complications with an increase of many concerns including C-Deficile.
The message kids? Stay in school - and maybe one day, you can run for President
Thanks, Alan. It's always good to hear how you civilized Canadians do things -- usually much better than we do (health care, gay marriage, somewhat saner electoral process). So it's reassuring to know your system sometimes makes mistakes too.
ReplyDelete