AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: The Associated Press, Aug. 30, 2006, 6:13AM

RESTON, Va. — Government services provider Maximus Inc. said Wednesday it received $33 million in child support contracts in Texas, Illinois and Iowa. The $7 million Texas contract from the Attorney General's office includes three one-year options that will bring the pact's value to $11.6 million, if fully exercised. The agreement aims to work with employers to improve child support payments by making sure employer data is accurate and up-to-date.

Posted by Info Center at 10:57 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Chuck Sweeny, ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR (IL), August 30, 2006

SOUTH BELOIT — Gov. Rod Blagojevich, moments before giving the green light to open-road tolling at the South Beloit toll plaza, said he’s solidly against selling the Illinois Tollway to a private consortium. “We’re not going to sell the tollway. I’m not interested in that, for several reasons. We’ve done a lot of great things at the tollway to help commuters get to where they want to go faster. One of the problems with privatizing the tollway is the private companies whose motivation is to raise profits. They’re apt to raise tolls, and they may be less interested in maintaining the infrastructure,” said Blagojevich, a Democrat in his first term.

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By NATALIA E. ARBULÚ, The Republican (MA), Saturday, August 26, 2006

SPRINGFIELD - Sodexho School Services, the private company chosen to run the school district's food services program, has hired 224 former cafeteria workers. But the hourly wages offered to employees are significantly lower than what they would have made this school year under a negotiated contract with the city, said Judy R. Ceravolo, president of the Springfield Cafeteria Workers Association.

Employees stand to gain up to 75 cents an hour or lose anywhere from 90 cents to $3.50 an hour with Sodexho depending on their position.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: INPUT news release. August 23, 2006

State spending driven by need to improve efficiencies and contain costs

Reston, VA – August 23, 2006 – An estimated $1.3 billion will be spent by states to bring integrated eligibility services to the Web for use by state and county workers as well as citizens, according to a report released today by INPUT, the authority on government business. The upturn will be driven by new administrations looking to capture savings and make their marks in terms of improving citizen service.

Posted by Info Center at 2:12 PM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Karen Lincoln Michel, The Northwestern (WI), August 23, 2006

Twenty-one days remain until every polling place across Wisconsin will operate for the first time from a single, computerized database of registered voters. After Wisconsin missed a Jan. 1 deadline for getting its voter lists to comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, known as HAVA, now even the smallest towns below a population of 5,000 - which previously were exempt from maintaining a registered voter list - are plugging into the new statewide system. ….. Kyle Richmond, spokesman for the state Elections Board, said that so far Wisconsin has spent $16.9 million of the $50.7 million in federal funds for HAVA compliance. He said about $15.8 million has gone toward contracts with Deloitte Consulting and Accenture, as well as for state employees involved in development of the statewide voter registration system, equipment and rental space. Just under $1 million, he said, has gone toward state employees involved with HAVA compliance other than voter registration.

Posted by Info Center at 2:08 PM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By William J. Ford, The Morning Call (PA), August 23, 2006

Raymond Kline of Easton isn't convinced a lease proposal between the city and Easton Suburban Water Authority would decrease water rates. …… Before the hearing, three members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 447 stood outside City Hall, holding signs and handing out cards that read, ''No to water privatization.''

Posted by Info Center at 2:07 PM in Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By Joe Mahr and Carolyn Tuft, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (MO), 08/22/2006

Calling their recommendations "critical" to reforming Missouri's mental health system, a state commission wants to boost caregivers' training, oversight by outsiders, state funding and openness to ensure the safety of thousands of residents receiving care. After an unprecedented, four-month investigation, the Missouri Mental Health Commission released 23 recommendations (.pdf) Tuesday but did not directly address one of the most controversial issues - whether to close a center for mentally retarded residents in north St. Louis County. …. Gov. Matt Blunt has proposed closing the state-run Bellefontaine Habilitation Center. But parents and guardians of Bellefontaine residents have rallied to keep the center open, saying the care for their loved ones is better there.

Posted by Info Center at 2:05 PM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO, New York Times, August 23, 2006

Fourth graders in traditional public schools did significantly better in reading and math than comparable children attending charter schools, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Federal Education Department. ….. Edward J. McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the public employees’ union that is critical of charter schools, said the study “provides further evidence against unchecked expansion of the charter school experiment.”

Posted by Info Center at 2:03 PM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: NPR Morning Edition, August 23, 2006

With the encouragement of Washington, local and state governments are privatizing roads. Chicago has leased its Skyway to an Australian-Spanish firm for nearly $2 billion. And Indiana has leased its entire toll-road system to the same company for nearly $4 billion. Kathy Schalch reports.

Posted by Info Center at 2:02 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: Associated Press, Tuesday, August 22, 2006

As the Internal Revenue Service prepares to implement a new program that sends private debt collection agencies after delinquent taxpayers, critics — including several lawmakers and the employee union at the Treasury Department — are gearing up to protest it. Opponents say that the IRS will pay private debt collectors more to do what government-paid employees could do and that the agency is not doing enough to let the public know about the new program, set to launch in early September.

Posted by Info Center at 2:01 PM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: By JENNIFER BOOTH REED, News Press (FL), August 23, 2006

The Southwest Florida agency that oversees foster care and works with troubled families has created a new company, established a new board and wants to shake up the way it handles cases of abused and neglected children. ........ But the organization's proposal means breaking contracts with three agencies that work with the families and hire their caseworkers as Children's Network employees.

...... To understand what's going on, one must jump back six years to the state's privatization of foster care and other family services that the Department of Children and Families once provided. State officials chose agencies to direct foster care and related services in 22 districts. Camelot Community Care, a nonprofit social services provider operating in five states, won the contract to manage the services in Southwest Florida. In its new role, Camelot became known as The Children's Network.

Posted by Info Center at 1:55 PM in Nonprofits | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By JOE FOLLICK, Gainesville Sun (FL), Aug 23, 2006

One of the state's largest privatization efforts is ending abruptly with Prison Health Services' decision to end work with the Florida Department of Corrections nearly eight years before the contract was to expire. ..... "The contract has underperformed financially," a news release states, "primarily due to a higher than anticipated volume of off-site hospitalization services.

Posted by Info Center at 1:50 PM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: By Tim Hearden, Record Searchlight (CA), August 23, 2006

Shasta County supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to hand off library services to the city of Redding.

........The city would notify the county by Oct. 31 whether it will run the system or contract with a private firm. Redding has been negotiating with Maryland-based Library Systems and Services (LSSI), and a final agreement could go before the City Council within the next month.

Posted by Info Center at 1:48 PM in Library | Permalink

Source: By Julie Creek, Journal Gazette (IN), Sun, Aug. 20, 2006

Until late January, caseworkers in the offices of the Indiana Division of Family Resources had never even heard of the Lucas Group. The memos came first. They announced that the Lucas Group would take responsibility for “alerts,” information employers file with federal and state government when aid recipients are hired or get a raise. Caseworkers regularly check alerts against their records to ensure that those receiving aid aren’t hiding income. A few weeks later, the frantic phone calls began from welfare recipients who depend on the $300 or so a month they receive in benefits. ….. Some 3,700 Indiana families had their benefits abruptly cut off or reduced. But nobody bothered to keep track of how many of those families were actually ineligible for welfare – and nobody knows how many people were too confused, overwhelmed or intimidated to respond to the letters. …. Even as they worry about hanging on to their jobs after the transition to a private company, welfare caseworkers fear most for their most vulnerable clients. “I had a woman who called me, and they said she was working at the exact time she was having a baby,” said Jane Gresham, an officer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees 3736 and an Allen County caseworker. “And she had other children at home. It turned out she had gone to a one-hour job-training session and realized it wasn’t the job for her. Fortunately, I was able to get her benefits restored fairly quickly.”

Posted by Info Center at 1:41 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: Detroit Free Press (MI), August 22, 2006

Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Monday ordered an independent review of the troubled prison health care system. …. The move follows a Free Press investigation that revealed widespread problems with how medical care is delivered to the state's 50,000 inmates, including the Aug. 6 death of a mentally ill inmate who had spent most of his last four days in four-point restraints. …. The review will cover the entire $190-million-a-year prison health care system, including a $70-million contract with Missouri-based Correctional Medical Services Inc., and the additional $90 million a year the state spends on mental health services, Marlan said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:26 AM in Corrections Health | Permalink

Source: Journal Gazette (IN), Sun, Aug. 20, 2006

Errors in calculating benefits through food stamp, welfare and Medicaid programs have propelled the arguments of privatization fans. Gov. Mitch Daniels and Mitch Roob, secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration, never miss an opportunity to rail about supposed high error rates in FSSA benefit programs, and they cleave to the notion that the private sector will do it better. “The (privatization) proposal is likely to reduce today’s unacceptably high rates of error and waste in the welfare system,” Daniels wrote in a letter to David Warrick, executive director of AFSCME Council 62, who has been critical of the privatization scheme. “The proposal is likely to improve today’s unacceptable inconvenience to needy Hoosiers applying for assistance. The proposal is likely to produce significant savings to Hoosier taxpayers. … The proposal will improve Indiana’s poor performance in moving welfare recipients to work.”

Related article

Company vying for Indiana contract had problems
By KEN KUSMER
Associated Press (IN)
August 21. 2006 6:59AM

INDIANAPOLIS -- A computer company that Indiana's human services chief used to help run stands to profit from a $1 billion contract with the agency despite problems fulfilling similar deals in other states. That company, Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc., is part of a team negotiating with the Family and Social Services Administration for the 10-year contract. ….. "This is government for sale, plain and simple," said David Warrick, executive director of Council 62 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 1,700 FSSA employees who could lose their state jobs under the outsourcing contract.

Posted by Info Center at 10:23 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By PAUL KRUGMAN, New York Times (subscription req.), August 21, 2006

Yesterday The New York Times reported that the Internal Revenue Service would outsource collection of unpaid back taxes to private debt collectors, who would receive a share of the proceeds.

It’s an awful idea. Privatizing tax collection will cost far more than hiring additional I.R.S. agents, raise less revenue and pose obvious risks of abuse. But what’s really amazing is the extent to which this plan is a retreat from modern principles of government. I used to say that conservatives want to take us back to the 1920’s, but the Bush administration seemingly wants to go back to the 16th century.

And privatized tax collection is only part of the great march backward.

Related article:

I.R.S. Enlists Help in Collecting Delinquent Taxes
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
New York Times
August 20, 2006

If you owe back taxes to the federal government, the next call asking you to pay may come not from an Internal Revenue Service officer, but from a private debt collector. Within two weeks, the I.R.S. will turn over data on 12,500 taxpayers — each of whom owes $25,000 or less in back taxes — to three collection agencies. Larger debtors will continue to be pursued by I.R.S. officers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:17 AM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: By SANFORD J. SCHMIDT, The Telegraph (IL), 08/22/2006

GODFREY - A part-time custodian with Aramark, the firm hired last year to clean Alton schools, was charged Monday with felony theft for allegedly stealing four laptop computers from North Elementary School. ......... The Alton School Board last year signed a contract with Aramark in a move to save about $1 million a year. The Alton Education Association reluctantly agreed to drop the custodians from its bargaining unit in exchange for a promise of 10 percent pay raises over four years.

The staff of custodians was reduced from 52 to 42 employees.

A survey of school employees later rated Aramark 3.2 on a scale of 5, prompting complaints from board member Ed Gray that the firm was not keeping the schools clean enough.

Posted by Info Center at 10:14 AM in Custodial | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: Carmen Paige, Pensacola News Journal (FL), August, 17, 2006

An unusually high number of complaints about school bus transportation has some Santa Rosa County School Board members disappointed and looking for answers. Board members have scheduled a workshop today with district officials to try to iron out bus problems, such as children being picked up or delivered home late. The problems have been attributed to a lack of drivers and route changes. "I've been disappointed because we have Laidlaw, and their job is to address drivers and routes," said Diane Coleman, School Board chairwoman. "I want to be sure they are doing what we hired them to do."

Posted by Info Center at 10:56 AM in School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Corrie MacLaggan, AMERICAN-STATESMAN (TX), Friday, August 11, 2006

When Amanda Morris started working at a private office that enrolls Texans in public assistance, she was trained to enter information into a computer about people who want to apply for benefits. But she immediately found that most cases didn't involve signups. Clients needed to renew benefits, make changes to their accounts or update their address. And she didn't know how to do that. ....... The state is paying more than $800 million over five years to the Texas Access Alliance, a consortium of private companies led by Accenture LLP, for the system, which has been in a pilot stage in Travis and Hays counties since January.

Posted by Info Center at 2:00 PM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Karlyn Barker, Washington Post, Saturday, August 5, 2006; A01

The District government has altered reports concerning deaths of mentally retarded residents of the city's group homes, deleting damaging information before the documents were turned over to court officials and others who review the cases.

Posted by Info Center at 1:39 PM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Scott Mobley, Record Searchlight (CA), July 19, 2006

Redding will explore hiring a private firm to manage the library system in hopes of buying more operating hours and better service for fewer taxpayer dollars. The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to start negotiations with Library Systems and Services LLC (LSSI), despite concerns among some residents about privatizing management of a public institution.

Posted by Info Center at 11:51 AM in Library | Permalink

Source: By AETNA SMITH, Jackson Sun, August 13, 2006

Library patron Sandra Brewer says she thinks it's "unfair to staff" of the Jackson-Madison County Library that they may lose their jobs or benefits if the Library Board decides to privatize library services. ....... They're efficient. They are caring, and they are always there to help you," Brewer said Friday about library staff. "I know many of them, and many have been here for years. I feel like they're family, and I'd hate for them to lose their jobs and benefits."

Related article from the Jackson Sun: Court: Library can privatize

Posted by Info Center at 11:35 AM in Laws/Legislation | Library | Permalink

Source: Michael P. Fleck, Morning Call (PA), August 7, 2006

"Privatization has not worked for Easton. Privatization has not worked for most municipalities in Pennsylvania.''

There is an old expression, ''If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.'' Currently, Easton is considering a 25-year lease of the city-owned water plant to Easton Suburban Water Authority. On the surface this looks like a great idea. The city gets a short term cash infusion, residents save on rates, and a private water expert is running the plant. But, doesn't this sound all too familiar?

It was a little over a decade ago that Easton residents were told how great private garbage collection was going to be. The city would receive a cash infusion, the residents would save money, and a private hauler would do a much better job. City leaders, at that time, sold off trucks and spent the proceeds. Now, that we do not have any trucks and the collection company has us over the barrel, or in this case over the dump truck, rates could go up as much as 300 percent. This is one example of city privatization gone poorly.

Posted by Info Center at 11:03 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Waste Management | Water & Sewer | Permalink

Source: By FRANK TANKARD, The Kansas City Star (MO), August 7, 2006

......... Blunt has since announced plans to close the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in St. Louis, where widespread abuse and neglect were reported. The center is one of six large state-run group homes for disabled adults. The closure could force many of its residents into private group homes overseen by the state.

Jean Barrett of Independence was one of several speakers at the hearing who expressed fear that the mentally disabled would not receive adequate care in private group homes if the state closes its habilitation centers and the smaller group homes associated with them.

Posted by Info Center at 10:49 AM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS (WI), Sun, Aug. 06, 2006

MADISON - State officials say they'll contract with Microsoft on an e-mail consolidation project, even though a cost-benefit analysis shows state workers could do the job for $1 million less.

The work is so specialized the state needs workers with certain expertise and skills, state Department of Administration officials said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:44 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: Patty Pensa, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, August 7, 2006

Lantana · Plans to transform A.G. Holley State Hospital into a massive medical complex have been debated and decided. Now, it's the question of money -- how to front its $150 million price tag -- that has state officials and health care workers quietly disagreeing about a surprising suggestion to outsource.

The idea to farm out some jobs at the tuberculosis hospital came from Gov. Jeb Bush, a proponent of privatization. While planners always envisioned a mix of public facilities and businesses on the 130-acre site, privatization was not part of discussions in the past two years.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Health | Permalink

Source: By QUINCY COLLINS SMITH, Sun Herald (FL), Tue, Aug. 08,

GULFPORT - Mounting budget concerns and litigation costs have prompted the Board of Supervisors to investigate options to privatize the Harrison County Adult Detention Center without Sheriff George Payne's blessing. Supervisors passed a motion Monday to invite private corrections management firms to an Aug. 28 meeting to discuss the cost benefits and present an overview of their services.

Posted by Info Center at 10:38 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Associated Press(HI), Jul. 8, 2006 12:00 AM

HONOLULU - Hawaii's inmates housed on the mainland will be consolidated into two prisons in Arizona under newly signed contracts with a private prisons company. The state will send more than 2,500 inmates to the prisons run by Corrections Corp. of America at a cost of more than $50 million a year.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: LISA SCHUETZ, Wisconsin State Journal, FRI., AUG 4, 2006 - 1:42 AM

Officials are considering dropping Dane County's $50,000 contract with a Madison laundry company after it failed to notify officials that a federal regulator issued it several serious worker safety violations in May. County officials say they're also concerned about findings in a St. Mary's Hospital audit of the company that reported at least nine infection controls problems, although that's not a basis for voiding the contract.

Posted by Info Center at 2:35 PM in Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Christine Vestal, Stateline.org, Friday, August 04, 2006

It sounds like a good idea: Replace state employees with a high-tech contractor to more efficiently screen thousands of applications for state support, and save taxpayers millions. That’s what Texas and Indiana policy-makers thought. But early results of a privately run social services project in Texas and troubles with the bidding process in Indiana have caused both states to put their bold privatization plans on hold.

Posted by Info Center at 2:33 PM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By WILLIAM K. ALCORN, VINDICATOR (OH), Thursday, August 3, 2006

WARREN — Union leaders who represent nurses and service workers at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital have been invited to meet with the company Friday to discuss announced changes in the behavioral medicine programs. Last week, Dr. Keith Ghezzi, Forum Health's interim president and chief executive officer, said in the Forum Flash newsletter that the health system would contract with Diamond Healthcare to manage and operate all behavioral medicine programs, effective Oct. 1. …… The announcement produced letters from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2026 and 2804 demanding negotiations on the employee issue. The unions say they have successor clauses in their contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 11:23 AM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Howard Fischer, Arizona Business Gazette, Aug. 3, 2006 12:00 AM

Arizona taxpayers may be picking up more of the tab for highway construction than they bargained for, thanks to the heavy use of outside consultants who earn more than engineers employed by the state. A report by the state Auditor General's Office found that as of January, the Arizona Department of Transportation had 430 contracts with 121 private consultants worth $559 million. Consultants are involved in chores ranging from obtaining rights of way for highways and preparing projects for bidding to designing new roads. The agency's use of outside consultants has increased 424 percent over the past decade, even after adjusting for inflation.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Audits/Reporting | Permalink

Source: By ADAM WILSON, THE OLYMPIAN (WA), August 3, 2006

The Legislature has launched an audit of the state's use of a law allowing contracts with private companies. …… The ability to hire private firms to provide services to the public - called competitive contracting or contracting out - was part of the Personnel Reform Act of 2002. …. State workers unions have fought against contracting out by filing grievances with the Public Employment Relations Commission and challenging the proposed rules for the process. The largest state workers union, the Washington Federation of State Employees, has argued that any contracting out must be negotiated with the union.

Posted by Info Center at 11:20 AM in Audits/Reporting | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: Evan Brandt, Pottstown Mercury (PA), 08/03/2006

LIMERICK -- The disciplining of a security guard at the area’s nuclear power plant last week was not the first time the company that provides security there has dealt with a sleeping guard problem. ..... Wackenhut is a Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based security company with a division that specializes in nuclear power plant security and provides security at 30 plants across the nation, including all Exelon’s nuclear plants.

Posted by Info Center at 11:17 AM in Public Safety | Permalink

Source: By Bill Cotterell, Tallahassee Democrat (FL), August 2, 2006

The head of Florida's prison system, who has been cleaning up contracting scandals for six months in the Department of Corrections, voiced skepticism about prison privatization Tuesday. Secretary Jim McDonough said private companies are good at financing and building prisons but that his department is better at running them. The state has five privately operated prisons, and a sixth under construction, but McDonough said he doesn't see it as a growth industry.

...... McDonough took over the prison system last February after former Secretary Jim Crosby was fired by Gov. Jeb Bush. Crosby and a top aide, former Panhandle regional chief Allen Clark, last month pleaded guilty in Jacksonville federal court to taking kickbacks from a company that sold snacks and other items to visitors at a prison canteen.

The state separately charged eight other prison employees with theft of prison property and misuse of inmate labor. The two companies that run privatized prisons, Corrections Corp. of America and GEO Group, were not involved in the scandals - but an internal audit by the Department of Management Services last year said the state had made nearly $13 million in overpayments for operation of the private prisons.

Posted by Info Center at 10:11 AM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (WI), Wed, Aug. 02, 2006

An Indianapolis consulting firm under contract to consolidate the state's computer servers walked off the job after the state decided to withhold $1.8 million in payments. State employees have since taken over the $7 million project after the consultant, Crowe Chizek & Co., left the job on June 20. Officials now hope to finish the work by next July.

Posted by Info Center at 10:08 AM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By POLLY ROSS HUGHES, Houston Chronicle (TX), July 27, 2006, 10:14AM

AUSTIN — Behind every mistaken denial of low-income health insurance caused by problems plaguing a new contractor is a child, sometimes a very ill one, a children's advocate told lawmakers Wednesday. Seven months after the private contractor began screening applicants for the Children's Health Insurance Program and Children's Medicaid, mistakes continue, Raquel Oliva of Hidalgo County told members of the House Government Reform Committee. ... So far, the state has paid $102 million to Accenture under the contract.

Posted by Info Center at 10:06 AM in Horror Stories | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By LARRY SHIELDS, Salem News (OH), August 1, 2006

SALEM - A private company will manage food service in the Salem schools beginning this year, but cafeteria employees will still be employed by the district, superintendent Steve Larcomb said. During a special Monday meeting, by a 3-1 voter, the board approved a one-year contract with four one-year renewals with The Nutrition Group Inc. of West Newton, Pa. ….. There are approximately 20 cafeteria workers represented by the Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 215 and Larcomb said there would be no privitazation. "They are still Salem employees," he said, adding they work for Salem schools and their paychecks will be issued by the district.

Posted by Info Center at 10:03 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: By WILLIAM K. ALCORN, VINDICATOR (OH), Saturday, July 29, 2006

YOUNGSTOWN — Forum Health psychiatric program employees say they don't know if they will still be working for the hospital system when the management and operation of the behavioral medicine department is farmed out Oct. 1. ….. Tom Connelly, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2026, and Ray Braham, president of AFSCME Local 2804, both at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, have sent letters to Forum demanding that the employee issue be negotiated. Local 2026 represents registered nurses at TMH, and Local 2804, the hospital's service employees.

Posted by Info Center at 10:01 AM in Mental Health | Permalink