UW laundry workers outraged after decision to outsource services

With the holidays approaching the University of Washington’s laundry facility workers are outraged at the institution’s decision to privatize their services.

The hundred soon to be laid off workers provide the UW’s medical facilities with clean linens, bedding and uniforms.

Many of the facility’s employees have worked there for more than a decade.

Agnes Tabazan and her sister work at the laundry facility. She addressed UW administrators at a recent town hall, organized by the Washington Federation of State Employees, and asked them to reconsider the decision.

“If you could just find in your heart to keep that place open, it would help a lot of people, people that don’t have a voice. People that don’t speak English,” she said.

A spokesperson for UW Medicine said the decision is financial.

University President Ana Mari Cauce was present at the meeting. She told the packed room administrators are committed to helping workers find new employment.

“We are there helping people apply for jobs, and again and again, we hear that they want to stay working at the university,” she said.

The laundry facility will close March 31.

The closure of the facility was just one of many issues that came up during the meeting.

Other university service workers and grad students expressed dismay over a wage increase of two percent, after months of negotiation with university administrators. They said the increase was not enough to keep up with rising living costs in King County.