AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By NICHOLAS BEADLE, Jackson Sun (TN), June 24, 2008

Questions about proposed spending on books and renovations have made county officials reluctant to pay the county's half of a $129,000 capital funding request by the Jackson-Madison County Library. A tentative budget the Madison County Commission passed last week gave the library no capital funding, which is usually spent for major purchases, construction or repairs.

...... The library, privately managed by Library Systems & Services LLC, is supposed to spend 20 percent of its about $1 million operating budget for books and materials, officials say.

...... Commissioners say they are wary about giving the library two funding sources for books, with some bothered by library leaders' decision to steer more than $74,000 of materials funds to cover the cost of opening its north branch off North Highland Avenue. "I think there's a little concern about the accountability," said Commission Chairman Charles Byrd, a member of the Capital Committee.

Posted by Info Center at 11:57 AM in Library | Permalink
Tags: Tennessee

Source: By KEN KUSMER, Associated Press Writer (IN), 4:52 PM CDT, June 23, 2008

The state has suspended the rollout of automated welfare benefits because staffers at the Family and Social Services Administration have their hands full right now with helping flood victims. The urgent need to help flood victims became apparent so quickly that within days of the heavy June 7 rainfall that precipitated the flooding, top FSSA managers sent e-mail messages to employees saying they were suspending the rollout indefinitely.

...... The delay also gives FSSA and its team of vendors led by IBM Corp. and Affiliated Computer Services Inc. more time to work out some of the bugs that have plagued the welfare changes since their inception Oct. 29 in 12 north central counties.

Posted by Info Center at 11:54 AM in Information Technology | Social Services | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Joe Cohen, Standard-Times (MA), June 25, 2008 6:00 AM

Union school bus drivers who transport city school children on field trips and to special events plan to protest the threat of their jobs being cut outside Monday's School Committee meeting at the Keith Middle School. The 14 drivers, members of Local 641 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, are calling on others to join them in a show of support.

...... The School Department already outsources about 45 routes to Tremblay Bus Co., whose drivers are non-union, part-time and do not receive benefits.

Posted by Info Center at 11:52 AM in School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Massachusetts

Source: by RoNeisha Mullen, The Flint Journal (MI), Wednesday June 25, 2008

The Bentley Board of Education is considering outsourcing the work of some 40 support staff members, prompting the employees to plead the case for saving their jobs. ...... In an effort to cut costs, the district is considering outsourcing services provided by paraprofessionals; custodial, grounds and maintenance crews; food service workers; secretaries; and bus drivers.

...... Decreases in state aid and declining student enrollment have forced other districts to explore outsourcing.

...... Jaquita McCrory, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees representative for the support staff at Bentley, said the outlook is good. "The board has never said they were outsourcing --Â they're just looking at options," McCrory said. "I think there's still hope. Together I'm hoping we can work this out and everybody stays where they are."

Posted by Info Center at 11:50 AM in Custodial | Food Services | School Bus | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: By Kristen A. Graham, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), Thu, Jun. 19, 2008

In a blow to the Philadelphia School District's historic privatization experiment, the School Reform Commission voted yesterday to seize six schools from outside managers and warned them that they are in danger of losing 20 others if progress is not made.

...... Of the 38 schools run by outside managers, 16 percent - the poorest performers - will return to district control, 53 percent will get one year to show accelerated progress, and 32 percent will get new, three-year contracts.

Posted by Info Center at 11:48 AM in Publicization | School Bus | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

Source: BY SHARLONDA L. WATERHOUSE, Post-Tribune (IN), June 19, 2008

The Sodexho food services contract extension, slated for a Tuesday vote by the Gary School Board, would give the company a slight increase of just under $1,000 in its fees and a few other privileges. The contract gives Sodexho an exclusive first look and first right of refusal at any school district catering event -- a benefit it did not have last year -- that could bring it more money. Under the proposed contract, Sodexho would no longer be responsible for removing its garbage. That responsibility would switch to the district. The district would get more flexibility to retain unlimited food workers. Last year, only five could be retained.

....... School Board President Nellie Moore said the district's lack of savings this year and Sodexho's $95,000 deficit confirmed her original resistance to outsourcing food services in 2007. She is pushing to open the bidding process to other companies.

..... If no company is in place by August, the district would have the burden of running its own food services program.

...... Of concern to some is the fact that perks promised to students by Sodexho, such as a scholarship program, has not yielded any awards.

Posted by Info Center at 11:43 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By DAVID WASHBURN, Voice of San Diego (CA), Friday, June 20, 2008

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders' administration violated city law last year by authorizing, without City Council approval, a $658,000 contract to the consultants who are designing his city government privatization effort, according to the City Attorney's Office.

City documents show that the administration accepted a one-year contract with Virginia-based Grant Thornton, LLP in April 2007, with an estimated value of $658,515. The most the mayor can authorize without council approval is $250,000, according to the municipal code.

Posted by Info Center at 11:40 AM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink
Tags: California

Source: By Brian Moon, Wisconsin Radio Network, Monday, June 23, 2008, 11:25 AM

Federal guidelines prohibit Milwaukee County from profiting from General Mitchell International Airport. County Exec Scott Walker proposes leasing off the airport and using the money to fix the county's crumbling mass transit, something FAA requirements allow.

....... The Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee Chairman says at least five of his colleagues on the Board are not in favor of the airport privatization plan.

Posted by Info Center at 11:35 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Minnesota

Source: by Allan Appel, New Haven Independent (CT), June 24, 2008

For the second time this year, the Board of Ed has ended a contract with a controversial Philadelphia-based company, this time for managing school buildings. The Board of Ed (BOE) nnounced Monday night that it is ending its facilities management contract with Aramark.

..... A campaign by public school unions resulted in the non-renewal of Aramark's contract as the manager of the system's food services and, last month, the decision to take that work in-house.

...... Custodians' rep Larry Dorman, spokesman for Council 4 of AFSCME (shown here with staffers Dena Fleno and Anne Peckham, in front), said, "We're pleased that the mayor, superintendent, and aldermen listened to our concerns about Aramark, and we're going to work in good faith with the new company."

Posted by Info Center at 11:31 AM in Custodial | Food Services | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Connecticut

Source: By Joe Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), Saturday, June 21, 2008

State mental health officials plan to meet with representatives from the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic to discuss the state's latest investigation of serious incidents involving former Mayview State Hospital patients and other local residents receiving community mental health services.

.......... Officials said eight serious incidents, known as "sentinel events," have triggered investigations since the state announced in August that it plans to close Mayview by the end of this year. Five sentinel events have been investigated since January and three others occurred earlier.

One incident involved a person who set a fire at a Washington County group home and had not been a patient at Mayview, officials said. The other seven sentinel event investigations involved four former Mayview patients who died and three others who were arrested.

...... After announcing Mayview would be closed, the state made the decision to probe sentinel events not only involving former Mayview patients, but others receiving community mental health services in an effort to improve care, Ms. Erney said.

Posted by Info Center at 11:37 AM in Mental Health | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

Source: Jennifer González, Plain Dealer (OH), Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Madison School District is handing over responsibility for busing students to a private company. The school board voted this week to hire Youngstown-based Community Bus Services to manage the district's transportation department.

The move comes after the district and Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 238 were unable to agree on a new contract for the roughly 40 bus drivers. The current contract expires June 30.

Posted by Info Center at 11:30 AM in School Bus | Schools K-12 | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Ohio

Source: James K. Jackson, Specialist in International Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, CRS report (.pdf), Updated May 13, 2008

Summary
The impact of foreign direct investment on U.S. employment is provoking a
national debate. While local communities compete with one another for investment
projects, many of the residents of those communities fear losing their jobs as U.S.
companies seek out foreign locations and foreign workers to perform work that
traditionally has been done in the United States, generally referred to as outsourcing.
Some observers suggest that current U.S. experiences with outsourcing are different
from those that have preceded them and that this merits legislative actions by
Congress to blunt the economic impact of these activities. Other observers argue that
investing abroad by U.S. multinational companies impedes the growth of new jobs
in the economy and thwarts the nation's investments in high technology sectors.
Some opponents also argue that mid-career workers who lose good-paying
manufacturing and service-sector jobs likely will never recover their standard of
living.

Posted by Info Center at 11:26 AM in Offshore | Permalink

Source: Valerie Bailey Grasso, CRS Report, June 10, 2008

This report examines the issues surrounding the Walter Reed public-private
competition conducted under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-
76 and its potential impact on future Department of Defense (DOD) competitions.
Circular A-76 is a policy and a process first initiated in 1966 that was designed to
determine whether federal employees or private sector contractors are best to perform
activities deemed commercial. A series of articles that first appeared in the
Washington Post chronicled the dilapidated conditions and the substandard medical
treatment afforded to returning veterans. Media reports surrounding the competition
have suggested that one possible contributing factor to the Walter Reed controversy
was the decision to privatize base support services.

Posted by Info Center at 11:02 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Transportation Transformation news release, June 5, 2008'

An unprecedented alliance of regional and state government, finance, academic and private industry leaders today announced the formation of a new coalition that will strive to transform the nation's transportation system in 2009 utilizing a combination of public and private-sector solutions.

The creation of the Transportation Transformation Group - also known as the T2 - was announced by former U.S. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt; Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey of HNTB Companies, former Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Southern Forces Command and Cabinet-level director of the White House Drug "Czar" Policy Office; Texas Transportation Commissioner Ned Holmes; Dr. Joseph M. Giglio, Senior Academic Specialist and Executive Professor of General Management at Northeastern University in Boston; and Washington, D.C-based Pollster Thomas Riehle during a news conference at the National Press Club.

"It's about time we add a fresh set of ideas to the transportation policy debate," said Gephardt, representing T2 member Goldman Sachs. "If we don't, communities across America will continue to be plagued by increased traffic congestion, deteriorating roads and bridges, safety issues and air pollution - all of which have an effect on our quality of life and our prosperity."

The coalition's goals include educating Americans about the benefits of new transportation delivery options and garnering support for innovative financing techniques as a part of a diverse strategy that will meet America's transportation needs today and in the future.

Posted by Info Center at 10:57 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink

Source: By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press, Fri Jun 20, 3:50 PM ET

WASHINGTON - When it comes to paying federal taxes on its workers in Iraq, KBR says it was exempt because they were foreign hands hired through subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands.

But when it comes to job-related injuries, including those at an Iraqi water plant, the Houston-based defense contractor says those same workers are Americans who must file their grievances with the U.S. government.

Under federal compensation laws, U.S. companies working for the government in Iraq and elsewhere overseas are mostly shielded from employee lawsuits. The 1941 Defense Base Act entitles injured workers instead to government-funded medical care and other benefits.

Posted by Info Center at 10:22 AM in Federal | Laws/Legislation | Permalink

Source: By JAMES RISEN, New York Times, June 17, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The Army official who managed the Pentagon's largest contract in Iraq says he was ousted from his job when he refused to approve paying more than $1 billion in questionable charges to KBR, the Houston-based company that has provided food, housing and other services to American troops.

The official, Charles M. Smith, was the senior civilian overseeing the multibillion-dollar contract with KBR during the first two years of the war. Speaking out for the first time, Mr. Smith said that he was forced from his job in 2004 after informing KBR officials that the Army would impose escalating financial penalties if they failed to improve their chaotic Iraqi operations.

Army auditors had determined that KBR lacked credible data or records for more than $1 billion in spending, so Mr. Smith refused to sign off on the payments to the company. "They had a gigantic amount of costs they couldn't justify," he said in an interview. "Ultimately, the money that was going to KBR was money being taken away from the troops, and I wasn't going to do that."

Posted by Info Center at 2:13 PM in Federal | Horror Stories | Permalink

Source: JUSTIN ENGEL, THE SAGINAW NEWS (MI), Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Saginaw City Council members approved a three-year, $225,000-per-year contract for a makeover of the controller's office.

The city will hand the reins to Plante & Moran, an accounting firm with 10 Michigan offices, Tuesday, July 1.

The move eliminates four positions in the controller's office and shifts work to at least two of Plante & Moran's workers, City Manager Darnell Earley said.

Officials estimate the three-year deal will save the city about $150,000. Saginaw needs to privatize some operations to save money and fix years of inadequacies in the quality of the work, supporters said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:44 PM in Tax Collection | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: By Mary R. Mannix, Cary LaCheen, Henry A. Freedman, and Marc Cohan, Clearinghouse Review (subscription req.), May-June 2008

More states are contracting with private vendors to administer benefit programs and "modernizing" program administration by closing welfare offices in favor of "call centers" and online access. These changes affect low-income people--changes that are potentially beneficial but too often harmful, especially for vulnerable population groups such as those with disabilities or limited English proficiency. Advocates in four states that have implemented privatization or modernization have had some successes in protecting clients from harmful effects and have gained experience relevant in other states that pursue similar policies.

Posted by Info Center at 10:56 AM in Social Services | Permalink

Source: By Amanda McGregor, Salem News (MA), June 17, 2008

In a landslide vote, the School Committee opted to keep the school food program in-house, crushing the superintendent's recommendation to hire a private company to feed Salem students.

...... However, the School Committee made it clear that the cafeteria workers have a year to prove they can run the program without losing money...

....... a group of parents and members of the local Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees Union, which represents the cafeteria workers, designed their own counterproposal. It details an overhauled school food program with broader menus, healthier choices and increased participation. That plan predicts, but does not guarantee, annual revenue of more than $70,000, in addition to built-in funds for equipment repair.

Posted by Info Center at 10:25 AM in Food Services | Schools K-12 | Victories | Permalink
Tags: Massachusetts

Source: By Dan Keating, Washington Post (DC), Thursday, May 22, 2008; B01

A consultant for the District Office of Tax and Revenue has been paid more than $2 million in improper charges, including airfare to Puerto Rico, cable television bills, $3,000 apartment rentals and management retreats, Auditor Deborah K. Nichols said yesterday.

The auditor also said that hourly labor rates were too high, annual increases were too large, millions of dollars worth of additional work was tacked on and managers under Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi failed to properly oversee consultant Accenture's work for the tax office.

Accenture has been paid about $135 million since 1998 to create the Integrated Tax System and run the computers, including ongoing fees of $5 million per year.

Posted by Info Center at 3:47 PM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Tax Collection | Permalink
Tags: District of Columbia

Source: By Dan Keating, Washington Post (DC), Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The tax manager charged as the mastermind of the biggest fraud in the District's history helped play a role in designing the agency's computer system while she was allegedly stealing millions of dollars a year, current and former employees said.

Following Harriette Walters's input, officials left her small unit out of the new software system, making it easier for her to escape detection as she allegedly produced fake checks that prosecutors say amounted to $50 million.

Directors in the scandal-plagued tax department now want to scrap the $135 million system rather than try to upgrade it to make it more secure. The chief financial officer's technology manager says the system, installed between 2000 and 2004, is too outdated and clumsy to be worth fixing.

Before her arrest in November, Walters was a 26-year tax employee known among her colleagues as a problem solver with a knack for finding solutions by using the department's antiquated and balky computers or finding a way around them. Although she did not have final say over the new Accenture Integrated Tax System, Walters contributed to the decision that her unit, which handled real estate tax refunds, be left out of it.

Posted by Info Center at 3:45 PM in Horror Stories | Information Technology | Tax Collection | Permalink
Tags: District of Columbia

Source: By Steve Ferris, Herald-Standard (PA), 06/14/2008

The union representing Uniontown's sanitation workers has filed a grievance aiming to stop City Council from proceeding with its plans to turn over the garbage collection service to a private contractor, a union official said. The grievance was filed last month after council voted to award a three-year contract to Veolia Environmental Services of German Township, said Richard Caponi, director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 84.

....... Council never notified the union that hiring a private contractor was being considered and didn't notify the union that it was going to be replaced with a private contractor until after the grievance was filed, he said.

Posted by Info Center at 1:33 PM in Waste Management | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

Source: Gov David Paterson news release (NY), June 6, 2008

Governor David A. Paterson today issued an Executive Order (.pdf) that creates a new set of stringent standards governing the use of consultant contracts by state agencies. Additionally, a new task force will be put in place to review and report on agencies use of consultants. These measures will help ensure consultants will only be utilized when they represent the most cost-effective or efficient option possible for taxpayers. According to the Division of the Budget, the state is projected to spend over $800 million on consultant services in 2008-09.

...... The Executive Order applies to most consultant contracts where personnel costs exceed $1 million per year.

Posted by Info Center at 1:28 PM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink
Tags: New York

Source: Steven Greenhouse, American Prospect (subscription req.), May 27, 2008

....... The rise of high-tech, some experts predicted, was to be the salvation for America's economic ills and beleaguered workers. And in the late 1990s, the high-tech boom did in fact do wonders for the economy, helping to reduce the jobless rate to its lowest level in decades to lift real wages at their fastest clip in recent memory. But the high-tech bubble burst in 2000, and now it seems that if high-tech is going to be a salvation for anyone, it will be for workers in Bangalore and Beijing.

Posted by Info Center at 1:22 PM in Information Technology | Offshore | Permalink

Source: By Mike LaBella, Eagle Tribune (MA), June 12, 2008 12:07 am

HAVERHILL -- An audit by an outside company shows the schools paid their private food service provider $200,000 this year to cover the company's financial losses caused by increased food and utility costs.

The city's auditing agency -- Giusti, Hingston & Co. of Georgetown -- said the School Department paid Chartwells a cash subsidy because the School Committee did not approve a 25-cent increase in the price of school lunches last fall. Chartwells provides food for school lunches.

Mayor James Fiorentini said the situation spotlights the need to fold the School Department's financial operation into city government -- something he is pushing to save money and improve accountability and efficiency, he said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:48 AM in Food Services | Horror Stories | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Massachusetts

Source: IMPA Public Management (subscription req.) FL, June 2008

In an October 2007 PM article describing Weston as a local government that contracts out all of its services for residents--Weston directly employed only three administrators and used approximately 400 contract service work-ers--we indicated some circumstances that account for this highly atypical phenomenon.

...... That has now changed. In its 2007 session, Florida reformed its local property tax legislation. The reform requires local governments to reduce their ad valorem millage rates for fiscal year 2008 so as to derive no more ad valorem revenues than garnered in the prior year, regardless of growth in property values. In Florida, this "rolled back" rate put an end to local governments' revenue stream from Florida's growth in property values.

......... Weston continues to maintain its contract principles with respect to virtually all of its services and service employees. But when a few key senior personnel could be brought aboard at significant cost savings in a situation forced upon Weston by mandates included in state law, one might claim that the principle--which is certainly not absolute--was justifiably bent.

Posted by Info Center at 3:11 PM in Contract Cities | Publicization | Permalink
Tags: Florida

Source: By Jeff Bishop, The Times-Herald (GA), Monday, June 09, 2008

Although there's currently a lot of buzzing about the possible privatization of the Newnan-Coweta Airport, this isn't the first time the airport has flown in that direction.

The headline of a March 23, 1997 edition of the Atlanta Business Chronicle trumpeted: "Newnan airport first to privatize."

......... Lawrenceville-based Airport Technologies won the bid and did indeed manage the airport for a brief time. The plan of the company was to attract businesses to the airport and market it to executives worldwide to "transform the Newnan-Coweta County Airport into an economic engine that will generate between $25 million and $50 million for the area within five years."

It didn't work out quite that way.

....... The big money never materialized. In fact, Gay said, "We felt like we could do the same things, but in a more cost-effective way. We decided it would work better to have the financials handled through the county, rather than pay a contractor to do it."

Posted by Info Center at 3:08 PM in Publicization | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Georgia

Source: Allan V. Burmans, The Public Manager (subscription req.), Spring 2008

More than 15 years ago, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued Policy Letter 92-1, Subject: Inherently Governmental Functions. This 1992 document offered the first government-wide guidance to help executive branch officers and employees avoid making "an unacceptable transfer of official responsibility to government contractors." Implemented in Subpart 7.5 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the policy has remained relatively unchanged since its issuance. Even the comptroller general's 2003 Commercial Activities Panel proposed no significant adjustments to this guidance as the panel addressed the merits and procedures for contracting out government work.

However, as more and more reports question the government's reliance on contractors for activities ranging from providing security services in Iraq to overseeing another contractor's performance, is it time for another look? This article asks whether the policy still holds up. Has the government reached a "tipping point" regarding an overreliance on contractors, as suggested by Charles Tiefer in Government Executive magazine? What was the reason for putting it in place back then? Do changed circumstances today require the government to rethink the policy, pulling back from the level of discretion afforded by this earlier document? And if so, how should that be done?

Posted by Info Center at 11:24 AM in Federal | Permalink

Source: Adam Wilson blog, Olympian (WA), June 05, 2008

I'm tardy on this one, but the Washington Federation of State Employees won in its court challenge (.pdf) of the rules on contracting state services to the private sector.

The Department of General Administration wrote the rules outlining when employees could engage in the formal process to challenge a move to contract work out, either by appealing the decision or by forming a unit and bidding for the work themselves.

Posted by Info Center at 1:18 PM in Laws/Legislation | Permalink
Tags: Washington

Source: By Emily Yehle, Roll Call (subscription req.), June 4, 2008

The Senate is close to finally having privately run restaurants, ending decades of in-house cafeterias whose large deficits have cost the chamber millions of dollars.

...... Feinstein's bill guarantees the same basic pay and benefits and offers a $25,000 buyout for those employees who retire. About half are expected to take it. But the bill almost met its demise when several Senators objected to it in early May because they thought the protections weren't strong enough. Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy (Mass.), Barbara Mikulski (Md.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Bob Menendez (N.J.) wrote Feinstein a letter asking that more protections be put in the bill, including assurances that the employees would be able to unionize.

Posted by Info Center at 1:12 PM in Federal | Food Services | Permalink
Tags: District of Columbia

Source: POGO blog, June 4, 2008

If you read the morning paper, you know that Senator Obama has clinched the Democratic presidential nomination. What you might not know is that yesterday, Senators Obama (D-IL) and Coburn (R-OK) introduced legislation to improve public access to government contract, grant, and lease information.

The "Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008" (S. 3077) would expand the Senators' first creation, USASpending.gov--a user-friendly web site where taxpayers can see how our money is spent.

Posted by Info Center at 11:46 AM in Audits/Reporting | Federal | Laws/Legislation | Websites/databases | Permalink

Source: By NICK WERNER, Muncie Star Press (IN), June 4, 2008

.......... Mayor Sharon McShurley announced Monday she was considering -- among other things -- privatizing the Muncie Fire Department to help compensate for an expected shortfall of $7 million in tax revenue between 2009 and 2010 combined.

Posted by Info Center at 11:39 AM in Public Safety | Permalink
Tags: Indiana

Source: By Cy Ryan, Las Vegas Sun (NV), Wed, Jun 4, 2008

With Nevada facing a potential 14 percent budget cut, the state is considering the possibility of turning all or part of its mental health system over to private companies to reduce costs. Gov. Jim Gibbons and Mike Willden, director of the state Health and Human Services Department, have met with companies possibly interested in running the system.

Posted by Info Center at 11:37 AM in Mental Health | Permalink
Tags: Nevada

Source: By Amanda McGregor, Salem News (MA), June 03, 2008

Superintendent William Cameron Jr. says schools can't afford to keep food service in-house and guaranteed it would be cheaper to hire an international company to feed local students.

...... Cameron was responding last night to a plan crafted by union members and parents that details an overhauled school food program with broader menus, healthier choices and increased participation.

....... Deborah Jeffers, the longtime cook at Horace Mann Laboratory School, shed tears after the meeting. "I thought he was harsh," said Jeffers, who is vice president of the local Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees Union, which represents the cafeteria workers, among other employees. "These are not pie-in-the-sky numbers (we proposed). We backed them up, and we were very conservative."

Posted by Info Center at 10:35 AM in Food Services | Publicization | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Massachusetts

Source: Jeff Shields, Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), Wed, Jun. 4, 2008

Heavy-equipment operator Mike Impagliazzo spends his days shoveling human waste-turned-fertilizer at the city sludge plant, steeped in the odors of his trade, loving his job "like a second wife." "But this one doesn't take the money," the 33-year Water Department veteran shouts over the rumble of his front-end loader. "It gives money." ..... And this troop, 60 strong, many of them committed and highly trained, is battling the Water Department's efforts to privatize its sludge operation because the workers don't believe anyone can do their jobs better.

....... Even so, for District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, opposition to the plan is instinctive - some see it as a slippery slope to privatizing other areas of the Water Department.

Posted by Info Center at 10:33 AM in Water & Sewer | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

Source: By David Dagan and Eric Veronikis, Central Penn Business Journal (PA), 6/2/2008

Members of Harrisburg's parking union are not budging despite the latest round of wooing by a private partnership offering to lease the city's parking facilities for $215 million. It's been more than two weeks since the partnership led by New York City-based real estate investor Jacob A. Frydman mailed individual letters to union employees that promised higher pay and job protections if the deal goes through. ...... The letter was sent after union members voted unanimously not to negotiate with the partnership, Harrisburg Public Parking. Many parking authority employees declined to talk last week when approached by reporters. A handful who did were adamantly opposed to the lease.

......... . Lewis said the employees have watched enough takeovers to believe that what is promised does not match up with the real outcome. The union is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 521b. A clause in the union's contract requires that union workers remain employed by the city's parking authority in the event of a lease.

Posted by Info Center at 10:30 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Pennslyvania

Source: BY ANI MARTINEZ, Miami Herald (FL), Sun, Jun. 01, 2008

FOR LEASE: A 78-mile, four-lane toll road, built in the late 1960s, upgraded in 1980s. Slippery when wet. Views of cattle, alligators, brush fires, mucky canals and car wrecks.

PRICE: negotiable.

Alligator Alley, the four-lane toll road, is up for bids.

The Florida Department of Transportation is looking for a private company to lease the 78-mile section of I-75 that connects Southwest and Southeast Florida.

The private company would operate and maintain the road for 50 years or more. The state would still own it.

The bidding process is still in the early stages, but residents in Collier and Broward counties are not enamored with the idea.

Posted by Info Center at 11:17 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Transportation | Permalink
Tags: Florida