DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED JANITORS TO BE LAID OFF DESPITE PETITION TO KEEP THEM ON; STATE CAN'T SEE HUMAN ISSUE IN VAN NUYS.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

It's a human issue, the state employees say. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It's not about saving taxpayer dollars or the quality of the work, or any of the excuses state officials in the Department of General Services are giving for replacing the janitorial crew that's kept the Van Nuys State Building clean the last six years.

The janitorial crew - made up of 10 developmentally disabled adults from Work Training Programs Inc. in Chatsworth - is being replaced Aug. 1 by a new janitorial company that's willing to work for less than half the money.

The impending change has angered many of the state employees working in the building as well as people doing business there every day - angered hundreds of them enough to sign petitions asking state officials in Sacramento to reconsider and allow the old crew to continue working.

It's a human issue, they say. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But the pleas, thus far, have fallen on deaf ears. It seems that the bureaucrats who work nearly 400 miles away in Sacramento think they know more about what's going on in the Van Nuys State Building than the people who work and do business there every day.

The state bureaucrats think they know more even than their own on-site building manager, who, records show, has given this janitorial crew good evaluation marks in her weekly reports over the years.

So far, aside from many readers being angry after reading my June 29 column on how the state was treating these developmentally disabled janitors, the only official response to the column was a letter from Steven Olsen, chief deputy director of the Department of General Services. It ran Friday in the Daily News Public Forum.

Calling the column ``highly inaccurate,'' Olsen reiterates the same defense his underlings did to me in defense of the change.

``In Van Nuys, the Department of General Services documented over a lengthy period that, among other problems, the Van Nuys State Office Building had unclean bathrooms, dirty carpets, trash-filled stairwells, and untended landscaping,'' Olsen wrote.

``The state communicated repeatedly with the contractor, Work Training Programs Inc., pointing out the substandard service. The firm's work, however, showed only temporary improvement.''

That's the official Sacramento line, and they're sticking to it - come hell or high water.

But when you talk to the people who spend their time in this building every day, you get a completely different version - the human version.

``Most people around here are outraged at the state laying these people off,'' said Sharon Sala, a workers' compensation judge, who was one of the first state employees to sign her name to a petition.

Echoing the same sentiments I found earlier from the staffs of state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal and Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg, both D-Van Nuys, Sala said the building is as clean as any state building she's ever worked in.

``And as far as the quality of these people, they're exceedingly honest,'' Sala said. ``I don't feel like I have to lock up everything I own at night. They'll turn in a lost nickel.''

One of the first petitions circulated was tacked to the door of the state's Industrial Relations Department in the building. There were 50 spots for signatures.

``Within two hours, the petition was filled,'' said the person who tacked up the petition. This person asked that I not use a name because ``we've been kind of under a gag order since this story came out.''

``I haven't found a single complaint about the janitors,'' the state employee said. ``Aside from the people who work here, it (the petition) was signed by attorneys, injured workers and others who have business here.

``They can see what we see, that the place is clean and the janitors are working hard,'' the employee said. ``They're not goofing off.

``We all signed the petitions because it's a human issue. Nothing else.''

But in less than three weeks, it's going to be a nonissue, unless state officials start listening to the people who work here - people who know more about what's really going on than they do.

``The clock's ticking,'' said Gail Peters, program director for Work Training Programs Inc. ``We're in the talking stages with another janitorial company, but we don't know if there'll be enough jobs for our people.''

A few have already left - one to work as a janitor with the Air National Guard, another as a part-time janitor with a company that manufactures hot tubs.

After July 31, unless other jobs are found, the rest of the crew will be going back on welfare - back to collecting more than $600 a month in Social Security payments for the developmentally disabled they get for sitting at home, instead of working.

Those payments, from the taxpayers, will just about wipe out the $73,000 a year Olsen says the Department of General Services is saving the taxpayers by hiring a cheaper janitorial firm to clean the Van Nuys State Office Building.

``The real beneficiaries (of the change in companies) are the taxpayers, who want leaner, more cost-conscious government,'' Olsen said in his letter.

Not at this price.

At this price, we're all losers.