If City Manager Robert LaSala's proposed service level cuts are passed, they would eliminate all full and part time temporary positions from the city's workforce. This includes all custodial positions, said John Pilger, communications officer for the city.

As it stands now, the proposal calls for outsourcing all custodians.

Whether to contract with local businesses for custodians or to keep some custodian jobs under the arm of city employment is an issue that brought business and the union to the council chambers to plead their cases.

In a bid to keep custodians under the arm of the city, Ben Holgate, president of the Service Employees International Union of Santa Clara County, told councilmembers at a recent staff budget meeting that the proposed outsourcing for all custodians would hurt the city's current employees.

He explained that in recent years, the city made the decision to outsource some of its custodial work. "We lost six part-time maintenance positions because of that," Holgate said.

Holgate said the city should allow internal employees to keep their jobs. He argued that "Janitors and custodians get treated like third-class workers. Because their skills aren't seen as valuable, these employees get stuck in a place with no benefits," Holgate said.

However, no final decision has been made as to which positions will be eliminated, and Holgate said it's difficult to determine the impact on his union's employees at this time.

Last summer, the union asked city council members to reconsider city employee positions for custodians. As a compromise and an effort to work with the custodians, the city agreed to take bids from internal city departments to see how much in-house custodial work would cost compared to external custodial services. That effort is still in the works.

Representatives from the business community have a different point of view. They think outsourcing is best for the local economy.

At a recent all day budget workshop, Suzi Blackman, president and CEO of the Chamber, told council members that business owners had met with the city several times to discuss the budget crisis. Blackman said, "Janitorial and landscape maintenance may be areas that can be outsourced." She says that would mean more services could be contracted out to support local businesses.

As the extent of the state budget cuts is uncertain, Holgate wants the city to prioritize cuts so that some jobs might be saved. "It could turn out that the state budget is better than they think it's going to be. If so, what will they save first? Will they take care of their employees that get shoved to the side?" Holgate said.

City manager LaSala must provide a final budget for the council to adopt on June 17, after taking more input from the community.