AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By FINN BULLERS, The Kansas City Star (MO), Wed, May. 30, 2007

Searching for a way to ease jail crowding and save money, Johnson County commissioners are considering striking a deal with a private, for-profit corrections facility in Leavenworth.

Officials with Corrections Corp. of America, one of the nation’s largest private penal firms, will meet with commissioners today to consider how the two could work together to meet the county’s growing need for jail space.

...... Private jails are not the answer, Denning said. “There aren’t very many success stories out there,” he told commissioners. “And there should not be any profit in people.”

Posted by Info Center at 2:03 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Sherry Anne Rubiano, The Arizona Republic, May. 25, 2007 08:28 AM

........ The Dysart Unified School District will begin running its own buses June 11, the first day for summer school activities, and will begin its full-scale operations when school starts in the fall. That means district-employed bus drivers and district-owned buses will be in charge of student transportation, rather than an outside provider.

Durham School Services had operated the school's transportation system for years. But problems with buses not running on schedule and incorrect pick-up and drop-off points prompted the change.

Posted by Info Center at 1:36 PM in Publicization | School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press. Tue, May. 29, 2007

Richard Bergendahl fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles for $19,000 a year, one of the legions of ill-trained, low-paid private security guards protecting tempting terrorist targets.

........ Bergendahl, 55, says he often thinks: "Well, what am I doing here? These people are paying me minimum wage." The security guard industry found itself involuntarily transformed after September 2001, from an army of "rent-a-cops" to protectors of the homeland. Yet, many security officers are paid little more than restaurant cooks or janitors.

And the industry is governed by a maze of conflicting state rules, according to a nationwide survey by The Associated Press. Wide chasms exist among states in requirements for training and background checks. Tens of thousands of guard applicants were found to have criminal backgrounds.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Public Safety | Permalink

Source: By DAN BURROWS, Wall Street Journal (subscription required), May 27, 2007

The prison business looks ready to stage a breakout. Tougher mandatory sentences were already straining the nation's jails. Now, the Department of Homeland Security's Border Initiative and its detention of undocumented immigrants has further burdened the system. Federal prisons already have 33% more inmates than they were designed to house and state prisons are similarly overcrowded.

The upshot? A severe shortage of prison space -- and a robust outlook for the three biggest private jailers.

Posted by Info Center at 11:13 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune (OR), May 26, 2007

Outsourcing library operations has the potential to knock 40 percent off the budget for all 15 branches in Jackson County, says the executive director of the Jackson County Library Foundation.

Jim Olney said preliminary discussions with Library Systems and Services LLC (known by the acronym LSSI), a Maryland-based library management company, indicate to him the cost of operating the libraries could be reduced from $8 million to $5 million.

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

Source: By DANIEL FRIEDMAN, Federal Times, May 24, 2007

Whether Congress will revoke the Internal Revenue Service’s authorization to hire private debt collectors remains to be seen, but at least one citizen has had it with the initiative. t a May 23 House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the program, Democrats played recordings of calls to a debtor from employees at CBE Group, one of two private companies contracted through an IRS pilot program to collect small tax debts for commissions.

Employees left voice mails identifying themselves by first name only and telling the unnamed debtor to call a toll-free number regarding a “personal business matter.” When he called to demand an end to the “harassment,” an operator politely declined to provide information on the company until the man confirmed his Social Security number or address. The caller refused due to concerns about identify theft.

Posted by Info Center at 10:32 AM in Federal | Tax Collection | Permalink

Source: By CHARLES WILSON, The Associated Press (IN), May 25, 2007

Inexperienced guards and too much idle time for prisoners who were transferred from Arizona too quickly contributed to a disturbance last month at a privately run state prison, according to a state report released Thursday (.pdf).

...... The medium-security New Castle prison is run by Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group Inc., but the report does not find any faults by the company. The report said the New Castle prison needed a "longer, more staged transfer of inmates" to allow time to hire and train guards and other staffers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:20 AM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Steve Terrell, The New Mexican, May 24, 2007

New Mexico pays significantly more than nearby states to house inmates in private prisons, according to a report presented Wednesday to state lawmakers. The 100-page audit (.pdf) by a Legislative Finance Committee review team says New Mexico's private-prison spending rose 57 percent in the past six years, while the inmate population increased only 21 percent.

….. The major private prison operator in the state is The GEO Group, which operates facilities in Hobbs and Santa Rosa and will operate a prison being built in Clayton.

Posted by Info Center at 10:32 AM in Audits/Reporting | Corrections | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: By Phillip Reese, Sacramento Bee (CA), Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Roughly 100 students and workers blocked access to UC Davis' main administration building most of Wednesday, demanding that the university ditch its food service contractor and employ their workers directly.

…… The protesters are asking Vanderhoef to cancel the university's contract with Sodexho, a private company that they contend pays low wages and provides insufficient benefits.

Posted by Info Center at 10:31 AM in Food Services | Higher Education | Permalink

Source: The Associated Press (TX), May 23, 2007, 5:53PM

The House gave final approval Wednesday to a measure that would strengthen protection of foster children and repeal much of the foster care privatization lawmakers ordered last session. The legislation calls for annual inspections of foster homes.

Posted by Info Center at 10:30 AM in Laws/Legislation | Social Services | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (IN), May 23, 2007 04:20 PM

Investigators on Wednesday turned over to a prosecutor their report on a prison riot a month ago, saying inmates could be charged with rioting, battery and other crimes.

……. The medium-security prison is located near New Castle about 45 miles east of Indianapolis. Since January 2006, it's been managed by Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group. The company also has a state contract to house up to 1,200 inmates from Arizona's overcrowded prison system.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press (OH), Thursday, May 17, 2007

The state is ending contracts that paid outside consultants millions of dollars to oversee a massive computer project already chock-full of other consultants and dozens of state employees. Billing by one contractor cost the state $4.8 million in just one year; annual salaries for other consultants ranged from a high of $500,000 to a low of $200,000. Those jobs paid a rate far above the average $64,000 salary earned by the 114 state employees also assigned to the project, according to state records.

…….. The largest private company working on OAKS is consulting firm Accenture LLP, which has on average about 100 workers assigned to the project as part of an $85 million contract the company won two years ago.

Posted by Info Center at 10:28 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Tom Hester Jr., Associated Press (NJ), May 24, 2007

New Jersey is leaning toward annually increasing tolls on some of the nation's busiest toll roads to help lure investors who would provide as much as $15 billion to help the state cut debt and pay for unmet needs, a state senator said yesterday.

…. On Tuesday, Corzine said that he expected to unveil a plan in about two weeks, but that it probably wouldn't involve leasing a toll road to a private company as Indiana and Chicago have done and Pennsylvania is considering. Instead, the governor said, he expected that the plan would involve creating a new state agency that would retain state control over assets. He wouldn't elaborate.

Posted by Info Center at 10:27 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Scott Higham, Washington Post, Wednesday, May 23, 2007

In February 2005, an auditor at the General Services Administration presented evidence to agency leaders that one of the government's top technology contractors was overcharging taxpayers. GSA auditor James M. Corcoran reported that Sun Microsystems had billed the government millions more for computer software and technical support than it charged its commercial customers.

If true, the allegation was grounds to terminate the contract and launch a fraud investigation. Instead, senior GSA officials pressed last summer to renew the contract.

Posted by Info Center at 11:50 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL), May 23, 2007

In pulling the plug on an $89-million accounting system disaster, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has delivered a potent message to those who do business with the state: Get the work done right, on time and on budget, or be gone.

Private companies can and often do perform valuable work for government, but the failed "Project Aspire" is a case study in how wholesale privatization can run amok.

...... The primary contractor, BearingPoint, has already left the job. It blames bureaucrats for constantly changing their minds. Bureaucrats blame lawmakers for changing the funding. Meanwhile, the state still uses its old accounting methods.

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Advisers to Gov. Ed Rendell say the state could rake in up to $18 billion by leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator for 30 years, which in turn could produce funding for fixing miles of roads and hundreds of bridges and even generate enough money to bail out mass transit agencies.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: by Pam Fessler, National Public Radio Morning Edition, May 21, 2007

The busiest border crossing between the United States and Canada — the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit — is privately owned. It carries one-quarter of all trade between the two countries, worth about $100 billion a year. But government inspectors have limited access to the bridge, and it's not clear who is in charge of making sure it doesn't become a terrorist target.

......One of the big issues is security. Gregg Ward, who runs a nearby ferry for trucks that carry hazardous materials, is disturbed that uninspected trucks are allowed to park underneath the base of the Ambassador. They park there while truckers shop at the bridge's duty-free store on the American side.

....... A spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration says his agency has raised concerns about the trucks with Moroun, but it doesn't have jurisdiction. Neither does the federal agency that oversees the transportation of hazardous materials. Nor does the Coast Guard. Nor does the Michigan State Police.

Posted by Info Center at 11:15 AM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: By ROBERT T. GARRETT, The Dallas Morning News (TX), Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A bill that would strengthen protection of foster children – and roll back almost all of the privatization of foster care lawmakers ordered last session – was endorsed by the House on Monday.

…… News reports about the beating deaths of three foster children in North Texas since August 2005 have revealed spotty state oversight of foster care contractors and state officials' lack of information about Texas' nearly 10,000 foster homes.

Posted by Info Center at 11:14 AM in Laws/Legislation | Oversight/Contract Management | Social Services | Permalink

Source: By PATRICK MARLEY, Journal Sentinel (WI), May 16, 2007

The state never sought an independent analysis of whether it should consolidate its computer servers before it embarked on the job - a project that state officials now say might not realize any of the $15.6 million in projected savings. The state hired Indianapolis-based Crowe Chizek & Co. to make recommendations on server consolidation and then implement those recommendations. The arrangement "raises the concern that the contractor has an incentive to portray server consolidation as beneficial to the state," legislative auditors wrote in recently released documents.

……. Crowe Chizek was to get $7 million for the work, but last year the state refused to pay $1.8 million of that because the job wasn't finished. Crowe Chizek then stopped working on the project, and state employees have been handling it since.

Posted by Info Center at 2:20 PM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Permalink

Source: By STEVE BOUSQUET, St Petersburg Times (FL), May 18, 2007

The state of Florida on Thursday declared its effort to privatize its accounting systems an expensive failure, as Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink suspended all work on the 3-year-old project. After spending $89-million to build something new, the state is left with the 25-year-old system it had before. ……. Known as Project Aspire, the venture was an ambitious but unwieldy attempt to hire a private firm to develop a streamlined accounting system capable of serving 36 separate state agencies with vastly different missions.

Posted by Info Center at 2:18 PM in Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: ADAM WILSON, THE OLYMPIAN (WA), May 18, 2007

The major state workers union has sued over rules that allow the state to send work to the private sector. The rules, part of the same changes that allowed unions to bargain for pay and benefits, seldom are used directly. A legislative audit released this year found only two colleges and one agency that had contracted out work since that became an option in 2005. But Washington Federation of State Employees officials say state agencies often try to replace state workers with private companies; one example is the use of a private company for employment security work in Snohomish County.

Posted by Info Center at 2:17 PM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: By Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee (CA), Friday, May 18, 2007

If California tries to lease its state lottery to private investors or unload a state-owned student-loan business, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes, there will likely be no shortage of interested parties. Providing capital to a growing privatization movement, investors are offering billions for state lotteries, toll roads and other government-owned assets nationwide.

Posted by Info Center at 2:16 PM in Asset Sale/Lease | Lottery | Overview/General | Transportation | Permalink

Source: by Mike Hall, AFL-CIO blog, May 17, 2007

This Public Service Recognition Week, according to the Office of Personnel Management, is “designed to honor the men and women who serve America as federal, state and local employees.” So what does the Bush administration do? It announces the outsourcing of jobs of 250 Labor Department workers and AFGE says there are enough questions about the $71 million privatization award to trigger a congressional investigation.

Posted by Info Center at 2:15 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (CO), May 19, 2007

FasTracks is nearly $1.5 billion over its original $4.7 billion budget, forcing RTD to look even more closely at hiring private companies to build and operate rail lines.

Posted by Info Center at 2:13 PM in Transportation | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (RI), May 20, 2007 07:59 AM

The largest of the state employees' unions is taking Governor Carcieri to court. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees wants the governor to comply with a new law requiring him to report the names and salaries of all private consultants who work for state government.

Posted by Info Center at 2:12 PM in Laws/Legislation | Oversight/Contract Management | Permalink

Source: By JOHN M. BRODER and JAMES RISEN, New York Times, May 19, 2007

Casualties among private contractors in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers.

Posted by Info Center at 2:11 PM in Federal | Permalink

Source: By Susan Snyder, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), May 20, 2007

None of the six private groups hired to manage 41 Philadelphia public schools - including for-profit Edison Schools Inc. - has shown "sufficient" academic progress, and the district should consider axing them when their contracts expire in June, according to an internal school district report obtained by The Inquirer.

At best, only 14 - about a third - of the schools run by the groups deserve contract renewals, the report said. Those schools met federal targets for academic improvement in 2005, 2006 or both, according to the report.

Posted by Info Center at 2:05 PM in Schools K-12 | Permalink

by Jeremy Scahill, Common Dreams, Saturday, May 12, 2007

Jeremy Scahill, bestselling author and investigative reporter for The Nation, testified May 10 before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on the impact of private military contractors on the conduct of the Iraq War. This is the full text of his remarks:

As this Committee is well aware, we are now in the midst of the most privatized war in the history of our country. This is hardly a new phenomenon, but it is one that has greatly accelerated since the launch of the “global war on terror” and the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Many Americans are under the impression that the US currently has about 145,000 active duty troops on the ground in Iraq. What is seldom mentioned is the fact that there are at least 126,000 private personnel deployed alongside the official armed forces.

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

Source: By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press (OH), May 17, 2007

The state is ending contracts that paid outside consultants millions of dollars to oversee a massive computer project already chock-full of other consultants and dozens of state employees.

Billing by one contractor cost the state $4.8 million in just one year; annual salaries for other consultants ranged from a high of $500,000 to a low of $200,000.

Posted by Info Center at 1:53 PM in Information Technology | Permalink

Source: National Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions

NASHTU has provided links to reports on transportation privatization from a variety of sources.

Posted by Info Center at 11:41 AM in Audits/Reporting | Transportation | Permalink

Source: YouTube, May 8, 2007

RI Council 94, AFSCME, AFL-CIO second TV AD

Posted by Info Center at 11:36 AM in Health | Videos | Permalink

Source: By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times (CA), 11:54 AM PDT, May 10, 2007

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is poised to call for privatizing the state lottery, a move that would bring California a cash infusion of as much as $37 billion to help solve pressing budget problems but also could sacrifice a major revenue source for decades to come.

Posted by Info Center at 11:34 AM in Lottery | Permalink

Source: By YOCHI J. DREAZEN, Wall Street Journal (subscription required), May 14, 2007

A Blackwater USA contractor's killing of an Iraqi security guard is putting new pressure on the Bush administration to prosecute private-company employees accused of crimes in Iraq, and highlighting the murky legal status of the 130,000 foreign contractors working there.

........ The investigation is a setback for Blackwater, one of the best known -- and most profitable -- of the army of security companies operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. Blackwater has flourished by capitalizing on the Bush administration's push to outsource key aspects of the war, like escorting supply convoys and protecting U.S. bases and senior officials. The closely held company, founded in 1997 by former Navy SEALS, holds government contracts valued at about $800 million a year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Posted by Info Center at 11:29 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Indianapolis Star, May 14, 2007

Stephen Goldsmith, who championed privatization as mayor of Indianapolis for two terms in the 1990s, has joined an investment company with money to spend on government assets. Goldsmith will work for CapitalSource, a commercial lender and investment business in Chevy Chase, Md., as director of its new Infrastructure Finance and Investment Group, a news release said. ……. "The new group will focus on acquiring and financing long-life infrastructure assets -- transportation, utility or recreation -- across the United States," the company said.

Posted by Info Center at 11:26 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Parks & Recreation | Public Works | Transportation | Permalink

Source: WRAL.com (NC), May. 10, 2007

Raleigh — The state auditor said Thursday that the Division of Waste Management got ripped off on a six-figure contract because it did not verify a contractor's paperwork.

The division paid TIRES, Inc. of Winston-Salem $320,000 to produce 20,000 rubber playground mats from old automobile tires, Auditor Les Merritt's office said in a report. The company actually made 5,700 mats, Merritt found.

Merritt said the division, part of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, should sue to get its money back and should be more careful about verifying what its contractor tell it they did.

Posted by Info Center at 11:22 AM in Audits/Reporting | Horror Stories | Waste Management | Permalink

Source: By Eric Litke, Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers, May 3, 2007

An era in Sheboygan County that has spanned nearly a half-century comes to an end this week as the county hands over ownership of Sunny Ridge Health and Rehabilitation Center to a private company from Minnesota. Amid union [AFSCME Council 40] concerns over the now-private employees' pay, hours and staffing levels, Legacy Senior Services and the county was expected to sign documents finalizing the $1.1 million sale late Monday or early Tuesday.

Posted by Info Center at 10:17 AM in Health | Permalink

Source: Associated Press (MN), Thursday, May 03, 2007

Duluth may privatize its two public golf courses to resolve a union grievance, said John Hall, the city’s chief administrative officer. …… Ken Loeffler Kemp, a representative for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the union opposes hiring a private firm to manage the golf courses because it could hire nonunion employees and pay them less than a city worker would earn.

Posted by Info Center at 10:15 AM in Parks & Recreation | Permalink

Source: By JENNIFER LIBERTO, St Petersburg Times (FL), May 3, 2007

Three months after Gov. Charlie Crist ordered an investigation of some $4.5-million in overpayments to two companies that operate private prisons for the state, those same companies will be the only ones permitted to bid on expanding and building another facility.

....... Those companies are GEO Group of Boca Raton and Corrections Corp. of America of Nashville. Two state audits have indicated the state had paid GEO Group and CCA more than $4.5-million for vacant jobs and other questionable expenses. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating.

Posted by Info Center at 10:13 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Indianapolis Star, May 3, 2007

Our position: Riot raises questions, but answers are few pending an investigation.

Last week's New Castle prison riot occurred as the debate rages over Gov. Mitch Daniels' government reform efforts. That makes getting to the heart of the matter even more crucial. If the administration didn't exercise proper oversight over the privatization of the prison, other deals, including the handoff of the state's welfare operations to IBM struck last October, will be under even more scrutiny.

The director of Arizona's Department of Corrections, concerned that just 37 officers were supervising 630 of its prisoners, attempted to halt transfers from its prisons to New Castle just days before the incident occurred.

Another red flag was raised by reports of employees at the prison itself, who say that GEO deployed non-trained staffers to serve as guards.

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

Source: By Angie Welling, Deseret Morning News (UT), May 3, 2007

A handful of state lawmakers toured the Utah State Hospital Wednesday on the heels of a legislative proposal to shift responsibility for the nearly 400-bed mental institution to a private company.

......... Human Services Executive Director Lisa-Michele Church has frequently spoken out against privatization, cautioning lawmakers to go slowly on the matter....... Wednesday, Church said she can see only two reasons to privatize the hospital: to improve quality or reduce costs. The facility tour, she said, should show that the state is providing the highest quality care for patients.

Posted by Info Center at 10:08 AM in Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By CLARE JELLICK, Peoria Journal Star (IL)Wednesday, May 2, 2007
\
District 150's "lunch ladies" are making a plea to the public to help them avoid complete outsourcing of food service, which workers say could result in a reduction in wages and benefits, their union being dissolved or a loss of jobs.

The 219 employees have been putting up orange and blue yard signs this week that say "Save Our Lunch Ladies - No Outsourcing #150." About 200 signs have been distributed.

Posted by Info Center at 10:07 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: Bo Hee Kim, California Aggie (CA), 5/1/07

Editor's note: Today, the UC Davis food-service workers will participate in planned civil disobedience on campus in an effort to raise awareness about their desire to be directly employed by the university instead of being subcontracted out to Sodexho, the company that provides UC Davis' food services. The California Aggie sat down with one of the food-service workers to discuss why she is participating in today's actions.

Posted by Info Center at 2:33 PM in Food Services | Higher Education | Permalink

Source: By CYNTHIA DANIELS, DOUG NURSE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA), 04/24/07

Nearly 18 months into Sandy Springs' cityhood, some residents aren't that happy with their cutting-edge experimental government. It's not that the honeymoon is over between the city and the citizens who voted to create it. That happened last summer about the time of the first controversial zoning decisions. The problem now is akin to jealousy: Residents have watched CH2M Hill-OMI, the private company that provides much of the city's staff, begin to send code enforcement officers over to work in the new cities of Milton and Johns Creek — the two newest North Fulton cities that also hired CH2M Hill for day-to-day services.

"This is maybe an aspect of privatization that we hadn't anticipated, and it's rearing its ugly head now," said Sandy Springs resident Thaea Lloyd, who worries that fewer officers will mean less enforcement.

Posted by Info Center at 2:30 PM in Contract Cities | Permalink

Source: YouTube.com, posted March 21, 2007

Privatizing public services is just a bad idea. Support your public service workers.

Posted by Info Center at 1:30 PM in Public Safety | Videos | Permalink

Source: AFSCME Reports (Wisconsin Councils 24 & 40), Vol. 8 no. 4, April 2007

State power plant operators can now breathe a bit more easily. The Legislature has restored 271 power plant operator jobs that had been cast into doubt by political shenanigans in the last legislative session.

On Feb. 28, the Joint Finance took action on Gov. Doyle's budget repair bill, which include restoring the jobs. The Senate and Assembly have followed the committee's 16-0 recommendation, so the power plant operators, who are Council 24 members, can go back to doing their jobs instead of worrying about their futures.

Posted by Info Center at 10:36 AM in Victories | Permalink