The Privatization of Public Services, State by State
Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, a national resource center on privatization and responsible contracting, sends us this.
It seems there’s no public service or piece of property that private companies are not eyeing as potential revenue streams. While funding anti-government think tanks like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), companies like Corrections Corporation of America, Waste Management, Maximus, Intuit, Laidlaw, Northrup Grumman, Koch Companies, Macquarie Capital Advisers, Pinnacle West, and UnitedHealthcare are hoping to use government as their candy store.
They want to take over our roads, bridges, parking lots, water systems, college dorms, and prisons. And they want to deliver public services like transit systems, school cafeterias, trash and recycling pick up, mental health services and many others. The following is a quick scan of just some of the proposals.
Water
The Emergency manager of Flint, Mich., is considering selling off its water and sewer systems to the highest bidder. The systems are currently generating revenues for the city.
Long Island’s Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano’s proposal is proposing to privatize the county’s sewage treatment system. Mangano also announced the privatization of Long Island Bus company to Veolia Transportation.
The Texas Lower Colorado River Authority is selling 18 retail water and wastewater systems in the Hill Country and in its southeast service area to [Canada-based] Corix Infrastructure.
Schools
School districts across the country are planning to contract out custodial, clerical, cafeteria and bus Read the rest of this entry »
Michigan Politicians Target Workers’ Comp
AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.
Opponents of working people in Michigan are pushing a bill that would gut protections for workers hurt on the job and give employers more power to dictate where injured workers could seek treatment. The bill also would slash benefits by factoring in “imaginary” wages and pensions and deducting from benefits—reducing workers’ compensation by the amount someone might be able to earn, regardless of the availability of an actual job.
The bill, H.B. 5002, has passed the state House, and as legislators in the Senate took it up last week, they were faced with 150 police, firefighters, autoworkers and others packing the Senate hearing room and filling an overflow room to capacity as they described the H.B. 5002′s devastating impact on injured Michigan workers.
Michigan Public Radio quoted testimony by Chris Luty, with the Michigan State Police Troopers Association, that reinforced the dangers of subtracting imaginary wages:
What’s available out there—what’s really available out there—and what’s theoretically available out there are often two very different things.
In addition to the dozens who told their stories to the committee, many Read the rest of this entry »
Congress Responsible for 370,000 Job Cuts
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Cuts instituted by Congress for the 2011 fiscal year eliminate some 370,000 jobs, while endangering the public and delaying necessary repairs and infrastructure work that will only be more expensive to complete in the future, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress (CAP).
In “Creating Unemployment: How Congressional Budget Decisions Are Putting Americans out of Work and Increasing the Risk of a Second Recession,” CAP Senior Fellow Scott Lilly writes that the loss of these jobs will have ripple effects throughout the economy.
The jobs losses that are a direct result of those actions will have a secondary impact on a wide array of businesses ranging from automobile producers to local restaurants and dry cleaning establishments, causing the disappearance of a significant number of additional jobs.
Already, the cuts to local law enforcement programs—which were cut by $2.5 billion compared to the previous year—are having a negative effect, Lilly reports. As an example, he turns to one California city: Read the rest of this entry »
Working Families Show Ohio’s Issue 2 Is ‘Nuts’
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Deborah Dion with the Ohio AFL-CIO field program sends us this.
Working families rallied at the Firefighters Memorial in front of the Cleveland Browns Stadium and distributed football-shaped stickers and 250 pounds of “Vote No on Issue 2″ peanuts to tens of thousands of football fans as they entered the stadium. Issue 2 would repeal S.B. 5, the law passed this spring that takes away the right of public employees to collectively bargain for a middle-class life.
Tom Lally, president of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 93, said during Sunday’s event:
“S.B. 5 is a safety issue for citizen and for firefighters, plain and simple. Issue 2 makes it illegal for us to negotiate for enough firefighters to do the job. We will be doing more with less staffing under Senate Bill 5. We are concerned that politicians are risking the safety of citizens and firefighters for political gain. We are asking citizens of Ohio to vote “No” on Issue 2 because if they keep us safe, we will keep them safe.”
Cleveland-area firefighters also canvassed tailgaters to talk with them about the safety Read the rest of this entry »
Who Opposes American Jobs, Kids?
Yesterday, President Obama was in Colorado highlighting his plan to put Americans back to work modernizing the nation’s aging schools and to make sure there are plenty of teachers to fill those schools. The plan involves $30 billion to put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work modernizing at least 35,000 schools across the country, and $35 billion to save the jobs of 280,000 teachers, police, firefighters and other first responders. American Progress puts the Republican opposition to the president’s plan in perspective.
THIS OR THAT:
We can put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work, keep 280,000 more Americans like teachers and cops in their jobs and modernize one-third of our nation’s schools for less than what keeping the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will cost us each year.
WHAT THE PRESIDENT SAYS:
From President Obama’s speech in Denver earlier this afternoon:
Every child deserves a great school—and we can give it to them. We can rebuild our schools for the 21st century, with faster Internet, smarter labs and cutting-edge technology. And that won’t just create a better, safer learning environment for the students—it’ll create good jobs for local construction workers right here in Denver, across Colorado and throughout the country. There are schools all throughout Colorado that need this kind of renovation. Last week, I visited a bridge in Cincinnati connecting Ohio to Kentucky that needs this kind of renovation. There are construction projects like these all across this country just waiting to get started. And there are millions of unemployed construction workers who are looking for jobs.
Shout Out to Public Workers in Presidential Proclamation
Some good stuff in the Presidential Proclamation on Labor Day issued by President Obama today.
The right to organize and collectively bargain is a fundamental American value. Since its beginnings in our country, organized labor has raised our living standards and built our middle class. It is the reason we have a minimum wage, weekends away from work to rest and spend time with family, and basic protections in our workplaces….The principles upheld by the honorable laborers of generations past and their unions continue to fuel the growth of our economy and a strong middle class.
And more:
This year has seen a vigorous fight to protect these rights and values, and on this Labor Day, we reaffirm that collective bargaining is a cornerstone of the American dream. From public employees — including teachers, firefighters, police, and others who perform public services — to workers in private industries, these men and women hold the power of our Nation in their hands.
Read the full proclamation here.
And check out a Labor Day video message from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis here.
Michigan Scheme Gives Cops Hoses, Fire Fighters Guns
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One of the most bizarre and harebrained schemes offered as a way to fight cities’ and towns’ budget problems is a Michigan proposal to give fire fighters and paramedics guns and police officers hoses and combining their distinctly different duties into one job—an all-purpose “Public Safety Officer” (PSO).
That scheme is just part of wave of anti-worker legislation fueled by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and his allies in the Michigan legislature. Today, the Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union launched a public education campaign to defeat the PSO proposal. (See video on this page). Says Fire Fighters (IAFF) President Harold Schaitberger:
We need to let voters know that there is no better way to weaken public safety than to combine the jobs of a fire fighter, paramedic and police officer. Public safety officers don’t save money and they certainly don’t save lives. Read the rest of this entry »
Wisconsin Police Set to Stage Sleep-In to Keep Capitol Open
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The leader of the police union in Wisconsin is calling for Gov. Scott Walker to keep the state Capitol open—and today announced plans for a sleepover to make sure that happens.
State lawmakers approved a rule change two days ago that clears the way for limiting the public’s access to the state Capitol and ejecting people protesting Walker’s bill to take away public employees’ rights to bargain for good middle-class jobs.
Says Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association:
The law enforcement officers from across the state that have been working at the Capitol and have been very impressed with how peaceful everyone has been. As has been reported in the media, the protesters are cleaning up after themselves and have not caused any problems.
The fact of that matter is that Wisconsin’s law enforcement community opposes Governor Walker’s effort to eliminate most union activity in this state, and we implore him to not do anything to increase the risk to officers and the public. The costs of providing security can never outweigh those associated with a conflict.
Anti-Union Rep Admits His Group Opposes Majority Rule
The vice president for one of the nation’s most anti-union, anti-worker organizations showed what we knew all along: Those fighting workers and their unions oppose the democratic process.
During a hearing yesterday on a House bill to expand bargaining rights for the police and firefighters, Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) exposed the myths and lies spun by the Big Brother-named National Right to Work Committee.
Doug Stafford, the group’s vice president, attempted to portray the bill as forcing “monopoly bargaining on every police and firefighter.”
Hare, a former president of and steward for his union, would have none of it.
The bill provides unions only will be established in places where a majority of officers and firefighters choose to form one, is that correct?
Stafford:
I believe that’s true, however….
New Legislation Would Create 1 Million Jobs
Members of Congress and a bipartisan group of mayors today announced new legislation they say will create or save up to 1 million public- and private-sector jobs. Jobs saved would include those such as firefighters, police and teachers and others whose jobs are in jeopardy because of local government budget cuts.
The nation’s economic crisis is forcing states and municipalities to cut jobs that are critically important to local communities. State and local governments and school districts face $178 billion in budget deficits this year alone. Last month, AFSCME members across the country rallied in state capitals to urge legislators to raise revenue to save needed public services.
The Local Jobs for America Act, developed with mayors, county officials and others, also contains job-creation strategies to enable small businesses to help hundreds of thousands of individuals get private-sector jobs. A bill number has not yet been assigned.
