Washington University launderers feel left to abandon

Mustafa Getahun worked as a truck driver at the University of Washington Rainier Valley Laundry shortly after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Ethiopia in the 1980s. For more than 20 years, he made the the almost invisible work of picking up the dirty laundry from the University of Washington, putting down the laundry to be cleaned in the Rainier Valley Center, and then handing the sheets and uniforms back to the patients and employees of the university. That's what helped him raise three children and have two children attend university. One of them got her doctorate. from the University of Washington.

The university system served as a second home for his family. But in March, he and more than 100 other launderers will lose their jobs without being paid when the facilities close. Citing the facility as a financial burden, the University of Washington Medicine will outsource its laundry services to the Hospital Central Services Association, located in Auburn.

Getahun, 58, was shocked and said he was frustrated that he had to delete his resume to find another job at his age. "We are working hard and without our fault, we are losing our jobs," said Getahun. "It's a really sad story."

The November 2 announcement by the University of Washington of the closure of Consolidated Laundry has caused little outrage from the public. But for union launders under the Federation of Washington State Employees, 89% of whom are immigrants, the news was a blow to their one-year effort to keep the facility open. The laundresses staged protests throughout the spring, testified at a meeting of King County Council on February 26, and met with Governor Jay Inslee's staff in Olympia to discuss the opening of the center.

More than 40 members of the Washington state legislature have even sent a letter to UW President, Ana Mari Cauce, and UW Medicine CEO Paul Ramsey, inviting the president of UW Medicine. university to not make a decision on the fate of the facility before legislators have the opportunity to find solutions in the next legislature. session. "We are confident that the UW Consolidated Laundry is a vital public badet, both for Washington State and for UW Medicine," the legislator wrote in his August 31 letter. "We are deeply concerned about the prospect of UW Medicine closing its laundry without first working in good faith with the Legislative Assembly."

The union also asked Tom Mara, a linen management consultant, to badyze UW Medicine's future linens in a report released in late October. Mara envisioned three scenarios: continue to operate the UW launderette in her current facility by investing in equipment replacement and upgrading facilities; develop new laundry services on the same property as Consolidated Laundry or elsewhere in Seattle; or shutting down UW Medicine's laundry to outsource its services. In the first scenario, Mara concluded that renovating the buildings and replacing the equipment would cost $ 5 million, while UW Medicine estimated it would be $ 15.1 million. The report concluded that UW Medicine would save more money by investing in laundry facilities rather than outsourcing.

UW Medicine spokesperson Tina Mankowski wrote in a statement sent to Seattle Weekly University officials considered Mara's suggestions and others when they made their final decision. But eventually, they found that the facilities were an excessive burden on the university system, she said. "The motivation for this decision was financial. UW Medicine, which provides much of the state's under and non-compensated care, is currently facing considerable financial difficulties. Contracts with HCSA save approximately $ 3 million annually in operating expenses and avoid the significant investments currently required to maintain existing facilities. These savings will allow UW Medicine to continue to provide high-quality health care services to all, regardless of their ability to pay, "wrote Mankowski. "Our launderers are extremely loyal and hardworking, and this decision does not reflect the incredible work they do every day to support our hospitals and patients. Our number one priority in the coming months is their dignity and well-being, including helping them find new positions, whether at UW, in our hospitals, at HCSA or elsewhere in the community. We will devote significant resources to this effort and are confident that any interested worker will have the opportunity to continue working at UW or with HCSA. She said that the university could not share the details of the contract with HCSA because they still are. negotiation.

Rod Palmquist, coordinator of higher education for the Federation of Washington State Employees, contests the way UW Medicine has treated the launderers. "President Cauce focuses a lot on equity issues, but her actions to close the laundromat disproportionately destroy UW Medicine's lowest-paid workers, who are mostly colored workers and immigrants," he said. Palmquist. "Instead of talking to us about keeping the laundry open, which would be good for the university, it took this devastating step for UW's most marginalized workers."

In Palmquist's eyes, the news of the closure of the facility points to a wider tension between the Washington State Employees' Federation and the university. The WFSE, which represents 3,300 UW employees, mostly paid less, is the only clbadified staff union to have rejected the university's latest offer. "We are in wider conflict with the university and we are preparing for possible strike activity," Palmquist said.

Getahun thinks that much of the university's financial problems could have been solved had the laundry been properly maintained over the years. In the meantime, Getahun and others are looking for another job in the next few months. He hopes to be a driver elsewhere, but the university offers him no other job opportunity than that of janitor, who, he says, is too physically demanding for him. "I do not know what I'm going to do," he said. "It's scary."

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