CUSTODIAN WITH A CAUSE: Cleveland High custodian James Dean faces a possible pay cut of about 30 percent. IMAGE: brianleephoto.com

Portland Public Schools hopes to slash the salaries of its 306 custodians by as much as 31 percent.

And the money-saving effort, which would reduce entry-level wages from $13.24 an hour to $10.70 and top wages from $22.69 an hour to $15.52, may force veteran custodians to look for living wages elsewhere.

“I really don’t know how many people will stay,” says James Dean, a Cleveland High School swing-shift custodian who’s been with the district for 21 years.

That could be the point, from the district’s perspective anyway.

PPS lead negotiator Tom Gunn declined to talk to WW about bargaining on the contract, which was extended indefinitely for negotiations after it expired in June. And district spokesman Matt Shelby would say only that the initial offer doesn’t necessarily reflect PPS’s ending point with the custodians, who are represented by SEIU Local 503.

But a memo from Gunn to other administrators makes clear the district is trying to save $2.3 million with its offer. Veterans comprise about half the current custodial staff. Fifty-eight are nearing retirement, which also means they are near the top of the pay scale.

The district says it’s trying to bring wages down to “market value.” Yet Beaverton School District’s custodians start at $12.93 an hour and earn top wages of $23.40. They earn between $14.68 and $21.65 an hour in the David Douglas School District. And Tigard-Tualatin custodians earn between $11.19 and $21.60 an hour. To the Portland custodians, the district’s first offer feels like retaliation, says Casey Filice, an organizer with Local 503, which also covers the district’s cafeteria workers.

“This offer is indicative of the value they place on the safety of students and faculty,” Filice says.

In 2002, to save money, the district fired more than 300 civil-service custodians and outsourced their jobs to lower-paid janitors. After a long battle, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled in 2005 the firing had been illegal. In 2007, as a result of an additional, class-action lawsuit, the district paid $37,000 apiece to the fired custodians as part of a $14.5 million settlement.

Dean, 43, was one of those custodians. He started working for Portland schools in 1986 shortly after graduating from Benson High School. His wife is a custodian at Roosevelt High School. Both earn about $41,000 a year, or a combined $6,800 a month. If the cuts went into effect, the couple, whose three children are grown, would lose $1,800 a month.

“They say it’s because of ‘market value,’ but I don’t buy that,” Dean says. “I believe I earn my money.”

Compared with six years ago, Dean is responsible, he says, for cleaning an area of Cleveland roughly twice as big as what he cleaned at Faubion Elementary School. He’s also responsible for locking the building at night and helping teachers maintain their classroom furniture. In 1997, eight custodians worked at Cleveland, according to the union. Today, there are seven, though the student population has grown.

Some teachers also worry the cost-saving measure is shortsighted and misplaced. “The custodians and administrative personnel are the ones who keep everything going,” says Tim Kniser, a science teacher at Benson. “You don’t typically pay attention to things that are working well, but I do notice every day that things are cleaner.”

School board member Bobbie Regan emphasizes this is a first offer. “We’re still in negotiations,” Regan says.