July 03--Janitorial company We Clean Maintenance and Supplies plans to lay off 540 workers next month after losing a job cleaning Chicago Public Schools.
Aramark, which last year took over cleaning services at CPS buildings, ended its arrangement with Bridgeview-based We Clean, one of four subcontractors for the work. The layoffs, expected to begin Aug. 3, include janitorial and clerical staff as well as managers, said We Clean President Louann Darrus.
We Clean received a letter from Aramark in early June giving it 60-day notice that We Clean's contract was ending but did not give a reason, Darrus said. The subcontractor has been in CPS for 10 years.
"We are still working with them to finish the contract out and wish them the best," Darrus said. "It's going to be missed."
Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said custodians who are being laid off can apply for positions at the three remaining subcontractors, which, like We Clean, are also minority- and women-owned businesses.
We Clean's layoffs were among more than 2,000 job cuts reported in June to the state under the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires employers with at least 75 full-time employees to provide 60 days' notice of pending plant closings or mass layoffs. The monthly report was published Thursday.
Aramark reported 222 layoffs among food service workers due to contracts that ended in New Trier School District, Wheaton School District and Edwards Hospital, Cutler said.
Kmart plans to lay off 99 workers at its store at 5033 N. Elston Ave. when the store closes in mid-August, said Howard Riefs, a spokesman for Sears Holdings, which owns Kmart.
OfficeMax reported 108 layoffs at a facility in Ottawa that are expected to begin Aug. 28. The company could not be reached for comment.
The report also lists 80 workers scheduled to lose their jobs at Youth Outreach Services, a nonprofit based in Chicago. But Executive Director Rick Velasquez said those anticipated cuts were averted after the group this week got the state contracts that were in jeopardy.
"We were able to dodge a bullet, but I think it just delayed it a bit," Velasquez said. "We don't know how long this (state) budget impasse will go on."
The Youth Outreach cuts, which were to include 61 layoffs and reduced hours for 19 workers, would have affected the group's substance abuse treatment, crisis intervention, teen pregnancy and foster care programs and homeless youth services.
"We saved jobs, but (the uncertainty) is a huge impact on morale," Velasquez said.
aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com
