Dylan Breuer reflects on the recently completed Executive Council Meeting. She notes the leap of faith in the $10 million for rebuilding in Haiti and other actions.
Of note:
Church Center employment:
I am and Council as a whole is deeply concerned about the cleaning staff recently laid off. There are nuances to the story that are important, and that were missed or distorted, in the New York Post’s story about it. The employees let go were not employees of the church, but of a company the church contracted with for cleaning services — the Church Center didn’t fire a bunch of people, but switched cleaning companies after a process that, Chief Operating Officer Linda Watt reported to us, was open to non-union companies as a way of being able to solicit bids from more women- and minority-owned businesses.I appreciate that report, but it does not dispel my ongoing concern for workers’ rights and human decency, nor does it ameliorate, in my opinion, that communication about the situation was (to say the least) very poorly handled. I expressed that view, as did others, and I and others will be continuing to monitor the situation and strive to support workers’ rights. I want to thank those people who hold my and others’ feet to the fire about this. Keep it up! This is important stuff.
It’s also not the only Church Center employment matter about which I and others are concerned. The layoffs of 2009 continue to hurt. There are faces of people that still, when I look around at meetings, I’m subconsciously expecting to see. There’s expertise and passion missing from people who used to work for the Church Center and don’t. And I still think about and pray for employees and their families. Remaining staff are doing a heroic job striving to cover the territory, and are working together in truly creative ways.
Mark Harris also has comments about Haiti on his blog Preludium.