Chicago Public Schools to lay off over 470 contract cleaners

CHICAGO — Aramark, the private company responsible for managing Chicago Public School (CPS) cleanliness, has announced it will be laying off almost 480 custodial employees at the end of September, according to an article from Red Eye Chicago.

CPS turned upkeep authority over to Aramark in March of 2014 when it signed a minimum three-year contract.

The workers being laid off, who will be notified by Sept. 30 of their employment status, are contract cleaners subcontracted by Aramark and not direct employees of CPS.

"It’s not actually CPS laying off the custodians," CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in the article. "It's the private contractors that work for us."

But other CPS employees see no distinction between the contract cleaners and non-contract custodial staff.

"They're in our schools today, doing needed work. And they won't be there doing that needed work keeping our schools clean for children, and the adults who are dedicated to serving them, tomorrow,” Troy LaRaviere, principal of Blaine Elementary School and an outspoken member of a group against the contract, said in the article. “So the difference is absolutely meaningless for us."

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