La Voz

Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: News

Only four grounds employees will remain employed at De Anza College after June 30 when the District reduces their current staff of eight in half.

"I left the Cal Poly in 1993 when they had budget cuts, went into the private sector. I came back here and two years later the same thing." said Joseph Cooke, the grounds supervisor at De Anza College.

Last summer, members of Cooke's crew were informed that they might be laid off within the next year, and were encouraged to look for new employment opportunities, since they would most likely cut positions by June. "Human resources met with all of them," said Cooke, "but then there were more mid-year cuts because the budget has still been not fixed." Later the grounds department was informed that they could have no more than four positions on staff by June 30.

One man was close to retirement last summer when the budget required reduction of half of the grounds staff. Leo Contreras, president of California School Employees Association Chapter 96, suggested that two additional men take early retirement to prevent them from being laid off.

 "The only thing that is saving the grounds department is that about half of the guys are real close to retirement; two in August and one in March," said Cooke.  

De Anza may decrease employee benefits and institute pay cuts in order to save jobs. However there are five different labor unions at De Anza College. An agreement must be reached with each one and that may be difficult according to Cooke. "It's not going to affect them. So why would they take the cut in pay?"

Cooke said that "the grounds crew is pretty concerned, but they understand, and I think we have a good crew here but it's pretty evident that they're all pretty skilled guys and hopefully they will find a job."

Cooke said that the staff should not be reduced to fewer than four. "We still have to keep the standards and keep the campus safe; plus we have events on the weekend." The crew must work overtime more often due to a lack of employees to cover shifts for events.

"The crew is adapting to the reduction of half of its staff, by changing their working patterns, "We are moving now more to a team working style." Cooke said that by working as a team they can get a week's job finished in a day.

However, it is still impossible to do everything they used to. "There are only eight hours in a day, so you could only do so much," said Cook, adding "You can't get the detail done but you can maintain the campus up to standards."

The stress levels are high among his staff, but the job can be worth it. "It's good to take ownership and make the campus look good seasonally and keep it looking great for graduation, and there are benefits other than non-monetary ones," said Cooke.

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