BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- The Alabama NAACP believes the St. Clair County Board of Education wrongfully terminated Johnny Williams, a franchisee with Vanguard Cleaning Systems, just four weeks into a $45,000 a month contract he bid to clean school buildings and facilities.
“I’m going to fight till the last breath of my body because I demand justice,” Williams said to reporters gathered outside the school district’s offices on Friday morning.
The Alabama NAACP wants to see the contract restored and Williams compensated for lost wages. Johnny Williams, who had provided custodial services for more than a decade for some of the St. Clair County school buildings successfully landed a bid to clean nine buildings and three facilities in August of 2023.
He believes his termination was racially motivated.
“What other reason,” Williams said. “If you have a staff, and your staff is doing a bad job, why would you keep the staff and get rid of the owner,” he said.
His son in law and business manager Charles Jones said they were never told exactly why he was terminated:
“The termination letter that we received through Vanguard, the franchiser, said there was an issue that went unresolved for 10 days.”
Of the nine buildings and three facilities Williams oversaw, Jones said the only complaints about their services were from Moody High School and Moody Elementary that they thought were in error, and they began documenting their work.
“I think that there were people in place that did not want my father in law providing services anymore,” Jones said.
Benard Simelton, President of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP said they are demanding an explanation of his termination:
“He legitimately won the bid,” he said, “and was doing the work, and all the people that worked for him are still working, and they remove him, and he was African American.”
CBS 42 reached out to St. Clair County Schools Superintendent Dr. Justin Burns but have not heard back from him. We did stop by his office and were told he’s out on vacation.
We asked Simelton if the Alabama NAACP plans to sue and he said nothing is off the table. We did get a copy of the termination letter which states that the St. Clair County Board of Education is “not satisfied with the services provided within the awarded bid agreement.”
It also states that Vanguard received a 10-day notification of concerns to be corrected and failed to satisfy the request for correction. The letter does not offer any specifics.