UE Convention Resolutions
Privatization:
The Shark in the Bathtub
A global pandemic is threatening the well being of millions of hard working men and women all across the globe. This insidious threat is privatization. In Japan, the government has vowed to make a net reduction of all public workers by 5 percent by over the next 3 years. The Canadian government proposes massive "re-engineering," or gutting over 10 percent of government projects. Our sister unions in Mexico face privatization attacks by a government rife with corruption. Privatization, labeled as "neo-liberalism," is on the rise, with working people getting poorer as a result.
Across our nation, where "sub-contracting" and "outsourcing" have long been the credo of private corporations, this mind-set has now landed squarely on the doorstep of the public sector worker. City and state leaders, swayed by greed-driven companies and their well connected lobbyists, now claim the need to privatize services in order to "save tax dollars." This is merely to cover up their irresponsible governance while endearing themselves to the corporate crowd. Significant numbers of lawmakers and their appointees are taking flight from the public payroll to sell their knowledge to the privateer crowd, a despicable betrayal of the public interest and trust. Like suddenly finding a shark dropped in our bathtub, we have no choice but to fight the dangerous menace of privatization.
In recent years, UE members have been on the front lines of this battle to defend public services and public sector workforces:
- Local 267 members at the University of Vermont mobilized students and workers to save the jobs of campus bus drivers and animal care workers which had been slated for outsourcing.
- Local 404 members waged a successful "Library for Sale" campaign, taking the fight to save their library to the people of Passaic New Jersey, educating the community, and ultimately saving their jobs.
- Local 893 in Iowa has fought off several privatization schemes including a plan to contract out child welfare services. The state unfortunately continues to devise ways to eliminate the jobs of state workers, a recent example being the contracting out of foster care licensing to a private agency. The union succeeded in fending off these direct privatization attacks, but faces an ongoing plan to "redesign" many of their jobs, a scheme that too frequently has the same end result.
- Local 160 members in the State of Virginia remain vigilant to the designs of property developers and contractor companies who continue to lurk in the shadows in the hope of someday privatizing the several state hospitals where UE members work.
- Local 222 members in Connecticut are well aware of the dangers of privatization, as the taxpayers are now witness to well-publicized revelations of a massive scandal regarding the contracting out of sewer installations. Low-ball bidders provided shabby work on a stretch of roadway, causing major sinkholes and flooding problems on Interstate 84, one of the major transportation corridors in the state.
The specter of privatization spreads across the country as "government for sale" signs spring up like weeds on a warm spring day. The public-sector equivalent of outsourcing, the shortcomings of privatization are well documented. While it replaces living-wage employment with lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits and no union representation, privatization rarely results in significant savings to the taxpayer. All too frequently, the difference in wages is simply skimmed off the top by the benefactors of political cronyism. Additionally, privatization subjects essential government services to the evil inherent in the profit motive. Privatizers forced to choose between quality services or higher profit, invariably take the money and run, leaving the public with the worst of all worlds – poorer services with higher costs.
The latest and most sinister example of privatization is the contracting-out of the war on Iraq. There are now almost 200,000 private "contractor" workers deployed in Iraq by private companies selected by the Bush administration. Many contractors are engaged in combat and other military activities. This means that U.S. military forces in Iraq are now outnumbered by a coalition of profit-making corporations whose actions go largely unmonitored, performing work previously done by uniformed service personnel, and under bids won without competition of any kind. In essence, the Bush administration has created a mercenary army that can be used to wage unpopular wars and subject to almost no public oversight. Massive profits for a few unaccountable private companies are the result. The Bush administration has also been instrumental in pressuring the Iraqi government to surrender control of its sovereign oil reserves to multinational corporations. Finally, the Bush administration, in concert with the Iraqi government continues to enforce Saddam Hussein’s laws outlawing public worker unions - including the independent oil workers union. This last fact is surely the most glaring indictment of the entire privatization disgrace now unfolding worldwide.
In recent years the ranks of our union have been bolstered as thousands of public sector workers have chosen to join UE. We therefore redouble our efforts at turning back this poisonous tide, and extend our hand to assist these fellow UE members as they work to chase the privatization shark from the waters in which they live and work.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 70th UE CONVENTION:
- Opposes the privatization of public services and facilities, and demands a thorough public evaluation of any attempts to do so, and supports passage of legislative moratoriums on the contracting-out of any public sector work;
- Supports passage of local, state and federal legislation to require that any work done with public money provide a living wage with comprehensive and decent benefits;
- Condemns efforts to balance public budgets on the backs of public employees through wage cuts, layoffs, speedup, and other steps which exploit public workers and undermine public services;
- Calls on Congress to restore adequate federal support for state and local governments so that public needs can be met without cutting the wages, benefits, and working conditions of public employees, therefore removing the main incentive to privatize;
- Strongly opposes the dangerous attempts to undermine our system of public education through privatization;
- Our union will educate our members, all workers, and the community, and encourage all to mobilize to oppose the expanding use of inmate labor to replace public service workers;
- Calls on UE locals and regions to close ranks with our public sector UE membership, and other public sector unions worldwide, to defend public workers from these attacks and help seek out creative solutions;
- Supports the unionization of private-sector service companies and agencies which would otherwise undermine the job security and conditions of unionized public sector employees;
- Calls on the U.S. Congress to cut off all funding that promotes the privatization concept around the world, namely the funding for such schemes contained in the work of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.