David Wade of the Cintas uniform company has a proposal for Dixon: pay $99.95 per week for city employees to wear uniforms that city employees have picked out and that his company will launder and repair, rather than more than twice that price for the current uniform company, Aramark.
Wade said the choice ought to be clear.
“You guys are paying for a service that almost none of your employees are using,” Wade said.
Wade carried a case full of other uniforms, but showed aldermen the high-visibility reflective uniform shirts for working in roadways, breathable tan uniform shirts that would be worn at other times, and heavy duty blue jeans that city workers told him they’d like to wear. Unlike many other uniform companies, Cintas manufactures its own uniforms and Wade said that gives his company an advantage over other uniform companies that offer laundering and repair services but have to work with a middleman to actually make the uniforms.
“The biggest thing is we can control our costs,” Wade said. “Everybody else has to pay somebody else, which means the uniform wearer has to suffer.”
Mayor Darrell French said he liked the uniform options, especially the reflective shirts.
“I wanted something high-visibility and that’s perfect,” French said.
Alderman William Carter said he also liked the tan shirts intended for use when the reflective shirts aren’t needed.
“That’s a really nice shirt, and they’re cool,” Carter said.
Wade said having employees look like members of a team is important, and that isn’t happening now. Wade said that even though Dixon is currently paying more than $230 per month to Aramark, employees don’t like that company because of service quality problems.
“The biggest thing I noticed was everybody was wearing a different shirt. As I looked across the room, there weren’t more than maybe two who matched,” Wade said. “You want an image of your city where people know who they’re talking to.”
There’s no reason for that to be happening, Wade said.
“You guys are getting billed entirely too much for a uniform program your guys just weren’t using,” Wade said. “One of the reasons they weren’t using the program is they weren’t getting all of their garments back, they weren’t getting them repaired. That’s part of why they just threw up their hands.”
Mayor Darrell French said he liked the proposal by Cintas since that company wouldn’t bill Dixon for garments city workers aren’t using such as winter coats, except during seasons where those coats are needed.
“With the other company, they charge employees, or actually the city, for use of something even if they didn’t use it,” French said.
A winter coat would cost $1.50 extra for two jackets, Wade said.
Alderman Steve Martin asked what would happen if the garments for which the city is paying don’t get used, and Alderman Vi Tyson asked what would happen with vacations or sick days for employees. Wade said the price quote of $99.95 is based on five days of wear and could be changed if it becomes clear that garments aren’t being used that much. Extended sick time would be deducted from the bill, Wade said, but the bill would continue during employee vacation time if the clothes remain in the employees’ possession.
Carter wanted details of Cintas’ arrangements for repair of the uniforms since Wade said that’s been one of the employee complaints leveled against the current supplier.
“If one of those shirts gets ripped and it can’t get fixed, what happens?” Carter said.
That depends on how the uniform is damaged. On-the-job damage is covered in the rental cost, but if an employee damages uniform shirts or pants off-duty, that would result in a bill.
Several aldermen asked why city employees aren’t wearing city-provided uniforms which are supposed to be washed and repaired by Aramark at the city’s expense, and after Wade left, aldermen debated whether they could require city employees to wear the city uniforms.
That shouldn’t be an issue since providing uniforms is intended as a benefit to the employees, French said, as partial compensation for lower pay than they could receive elsewhere. The original intent of paying for uniform rental was to keep city employees from paying to purchase, clean and repair clothes that get dirty during their work.
Alderman John Sheppard agreed.
“If the city is providing free clothes, they’d be foolish not to wear them,” Sheppard said.
The aldermen postponed action on the Cintas proposal until next month’s meeting to obtain legal advice on whether it’s possible to break an existing city contract with the Aramark uniform company.