Cafeteria workers receive 9-month contract

By Jim Lisk, Editor

Thursday, June 18, 2009 June 19, 2009 09:01 am

— A relieved group of Stanly County Schools cafeteria workers left a called meeting of the school board on Tuesday night with broad smiles on their faces.
After considerable discussion, the board unanimously approved Boardmember Tracy Wyrick’s motion to table a vote on awarding a contract to a food service provider for nine months, thus giving the local workers an opportunity to continue the progress they’d shown since February.
“Like any business, they need ample time to prove fiscal responsibility,” Wyrick said in prefacing his motion.
The contract proposals from two food service companies would have run from July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2010.
Prior to the board’s action, SCS Financial Director Bill Josey advised that SCS would lose $141,000 this year in the Food Service Budget, despite the significant turnaround by the current school cafeteria management since discussions began in February, 2009.
The dilemma for the board was that the two food service companies had quoted guaranteed break-even contracts where they would absorb first-year losses of $160,000 and $175,000, respectively.
“The companies are willing to accept those risks the first year, but contracts would be re-negotiated each year,” Josey said.
In addition, the food service company contracts would allow the companies to leave at any time during the year with a 60-day notice.
Josey also explained that there are additional indirect costs, overhead expenses such as rent and utilities, that are not budgeted against the Food Service Budget that could be charged to a food service company and become revenue for SCS. Josey put that potential revenue source at $255,000 per year.
At a prior called meeting on May 5, 50 cafeteria workers had gathered in support of keeping their jobs and reported to the board that they were showing a $92,412 profit through April.
“We’re making money now. don’t punish us by bringing in an outside company. It’s not just about us managers, rather all our employees,” Amy Story, manager at Millingport Elementary, had said in May. “Give us a whole year to show you what we can do.”
That’s just what the board did with its decision on Tuesday night, giving cafeteria employees nine months to turn the bottom line around on the Food Service Budget.

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