Supervisors defer votes after dozens urge rejection of contracting out janitorial and body-removal work

The Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday delayed action on two proposed contracting-out measures after a large public turnout urged supervisors to reject the moves.

Supervisor John Avalos, chair of the committee, said the two Prop J items — one on janitorial services and one on body-removal services for the coroner's office — would be continued so the Controller's Office and the affected departments could provide more analysis before any vote. "We are also looking at alternatives to the contracting out whereby we would determine whether or not any other staffing change could be implemented on the civil service side in order to achieve some savings," Monique Samuda of the Controller's Office told the committee during a presentation on the Prop J certification process.

Members of SEIU and other public commenters said contracting out would primarily affect women and people of color who hold many custodial and facilities roles, reduce wages and benefits, and undercut decades of local hiring and equity efforts. "These are middle-class jobs where people get a living wage, get health care benefits," said Gabriel Holland of SEIU (public comment). Union speakers also described problems they said followed contracting out in other settings and urged the committee to preserve public-sector positions.

Medical examiner staff warned of public-safety and operational risks if only body-removal (the physical removal of remains) were outsourced. Investigator Charles Cecil described situations, including a Muni shutdown, where on-scene investigators performed investigation and removal promptly; outsourcing removals "from Oakland" would, he said, create 45-minute to hour-long delays that back up police and fire response and slow investigative work.

Committee members pressed staff on the assumptions behind the Controller—s cost comparisons, including which civil-service step rates and fringe costs were used to calculate savings. Supervisor David Campos asked the Controller to prepare alternative civil-service options that could yield savings without contracting out. "I'm projecting a similar level of appeals," the Controller later said on a different item, underscoring the broader budget pressures driving these proposals.

Outcome and next steps: Chair Avalos moved to continue items 6 and 7; the committee agreed and instructed the Controller's Office to produce more detailed comparisons of contract rates versus civil-service alternatives. Item 8 (a separate, longer list of already-contracted services) remained open for later questions to the Department of Elections about a separate voter-materials issue. No formal vote to adopt contracting out was taken at the hearing.