Code Enforcement Workers Say "No" to Outsourcing
By: Eugene Daniel
Updated: February 20, 2013
PEORIA - Local code
enforcement workers say they are ready to fight for their jobs.
Peoria code enforcement
and building inspection workers held a town hall meeting at Peoria's Labor Temple
Wednesday to speak against a new city proposal. The city is thinking about
subcontracting jobs to a private company.
The city says too many area
buildings are in poor condition and have been boarded up for too long. However,
inspectors say the problem is not them.
Sherry Carter-Allen,
AFSCME 3464 president, says they're job is to inspect and determine if a home
should come down, and that decision is finalized by the judicial system.
Union workers say the
problem exists somewhere in between that process.
"There's a lot of
things that happen between there. So it makes it look like the code enforcement
officers aren't doing their job, when in fact we are doing our job and doing it
well," said Carter-Allen. "We're saying we're doing our job. Now management,
city council, we need your help to help us and the judicial system to get this
house down and clear."
The union agrees
something needs to be done, but says outsourcing jobs would cost nearly 20 jobs
and only hurt the city and tax payers in
the long run.
