Editorial: Convergys top example of privatization disaster
Source: Palm Beach Post, Thursday, March 30, 2006
...... The most expensive confirmation of the privatization disaster is Convergys, hired Sept. 10, 2001, to handle all personnel services that human resource departments historically have provided - payroll, benefits, job advertising, résumé-collecting. As a Convergys lobbyist steered nearly $1.2 million to the state GOP, the Cincinnati-based company was heralded as able to do with only 550 employees what 900 state employees had, saving the state $93 million in operating costs. In fact, Convergys' seven-year, $262million contract secretively grew to a nine-year, $350 million contract, while its projected savings shrank to $25 million. Worse, its service has been abominable. Employees have gone unpaid, their benefits have been dropped, and now they and the state face an increased security risk.