Haslam privatization proposal threatens Facilities Services Heidi Hil Assistant News Editor
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Tennessee is not for sale. That’s what Tom Anderson and his peers at United Campus Workers have declared in response to Gov. Bill Haslam’s plan to privatize the management of state-owned properties at UT, thus outsourcing facility management to interested private companies. Anderson, a supplies purchaser for UT Facilities Services, called the proposal “mindboggling.” “There were rumors that this was going to happen for a while,” Anderson said. “But when we found out at a meeting that Dave [Irvin] held, we were like ‘is this actually happening? “I was in shock.” Anderson estimates that approximately 1,000 jobs are at risk for the 700 employees who work at UT Facilities Services and the remaining 300 who operate under housekeeping, dining management or other campus services. These individuals, according to Anderson, all will likely lose their jobs if Haslam’s outsourcing proposal baits enough interest. “There were some employees that outsourced in Nashville a few years ago and 75 percent of those people eventually lost their jobs,” Anderson said. “The contract was written so that the company only had to keep the employees on for 60 days, or about 2 months. The 14-year UT employee also commented, his voice slightly shaking, that management jobs like his will be cut first. “The vast majority of folks will get fired,” Anderson said. “The long time employees and high wage, the management --- they’re always the first to go. And that’s the other part of the control.” On Aug. 11, a Request for Information (RFI) was posted on the Tennessee Department of General Services website, asking for interested parties to “provide a short narrative” about each company’s expertise, qualifications, job timelines, service level agreements and geographic vendor presence. The deadline for a response to the RFI was set for Aug. 21 — a relatively short timeline that Anderson said neither he nor his coworkers were prepared for. “They will take the information they get and turn it into what’s called a Request for Proposal,” Anderson said. “The companies aren’t supposed to be part of it at this point.” Anderson referenced a similar move when controversy over the state’s outsourcing contract with the Chicago-based company JLL, formerly Jones Lang LaSalle, emerged in an 2013 audit by the Tennessee Comptroller. See HASLAM on Page 4
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