Wayne County Nursing Home Jobs in Jeopardy
By: Ashley Zilka
Updated: March 20, 2013
The Wayne County board supervisors voted and now more than 70 nursing home jobs are on the line.
Certain departments in the facility will be contracted by a private company, starting July 1.
74 Wayne County nursing home employees heard the bad news Tuesday night. Three departments will be outsourced to the private company, Sodexo Senior Living. Meaning those employees could lose their jobs.
"The quality of service that the residents are going to get is not going to be the same. It's going to be different. It's going to be less. You can't tell me when you cut something by $888,000 that the service is going to be the same because it's not going to be the same," said Paul Peters, CSEA Local 859 Union President.
The nursing home costs the county $1.5 million every year. This decision will save $888,000.
"We are certainly aware of the burden on taxpayers, and we have to do everything we can to minimize that burden. It's not an easy recommendation," said Jim Marquette, Wayne County Administrator.
House keeping, food service and building maintenance are the services that are affected. The 74 employees can reapply for their jobs but there's no guarantee they will be rehired.
According to union president, employees will be paid $3 less an hour than the average $14 they are currently making.
"We had people say even if we get hired back, we can't afford it. They are going to be coming into this building and going to be getting medicaid and food stamps and cash assistance, possibly unemployment, all that money comes back on the county," said Peters.
"The nursing home will continue to operate. We have a very high level of care for the residents, and we know that. I don't think we want to do anything here, or are doing anything here, that is going to compromise that," said Marquette.
Certain departments in the facility will be contracted by a private company, starting July 1.
74 Wayne County nursing home employees heard the bad news Tuesday night. Three departments will be outsourced to the private company, Sodexo Senior Living. Meaning those employees could lose their jobs.
"The quality of service that the residents are going to get is not going to be the same. It's going to be different. It's going to be less. You can't tell me when you cut something by $888,000 that the service is going to be the same because it's not going to be the same," said Paul Peters, CSEA Local 859 Union President.
The nursing home costs the county $1.5 million every year. This decision will save $888,000.
"We are certainly aware of the burden on taxpayers, and we have to do everything we can to minimize that burden. It's not an easy recommendation," said Jim Marquette, Wayne County Administrator.
House keeping, food service and building maintenance are the services that are affected. The 74 employees can reapply for their jobs but there's no guarantee they will be rehired.
According to union president, employees will be paid $3 less an hour than the average $14 they are currently making.
"We had people say even if we get hired back, we can't afford it. They are going to be coming into this building and going to be getting medicaid and food stamps and cash assistance, possibly unemployment, all that money comes back on the county," said Peters.
"The nursing home will continue to operate. We have a very high level of care for the residents, and we know that. I don't think we want to do anything here, or are doing anything here, that is going to compromise that," said Marquette.
