AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By Christopher Behnan, DAILY PRESS & ARGUS, May 5, 2008

Talks of privatizing Pinckney Community Schools' Buildings and Grounds Department -- including its 27 custodians -- were tabled Thursday after the department's union made headway at the bargaining table the day before.

The board was prepared to authorize negotiations with Aramark to privatize the department, but tabled the issue at Thursday's regular meeting in order to continue hammering out a deal to keep the employees district employees.

Posted by Info Center at 11:11 AM in Maintenance | Permalink
Tags: Michigan

Source: Elizabeth Benton, New Haven Register (CT), Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Union-sponsored billboards that target Aramark Corp. will hit the Elm City this week as part of an accelerating union campaign to remove the Philadelphia-based company from oversight of maintenance of public schools.

The 10 billboards, paid for by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 4, target Aramark for the purchase of what custodians claim are unwieldy, ineffective and overpriced "bear-proof" trash Dumpsters.

Posted by Info Center at 1:55 PM in Maintenance | Schools K-12 | Permalink
Tags: Connecticut

Source: Penny Gurstein and Stuart Murray, with Anisha Datta and Marika Albert, Canadian Centre for Policy Initiatives, October 2007

This report examines two cases of alternative service delivery (ASD) to assess the impact on customer service and the quality of working life for the outsourced workers in BC. Our findings suggest that, contrary to the government's claim that "this is alternative service delivery, not privatization," ASD is a form of privatization. ASD allows partnerships to form between the government and companies that specialize in outsourcing, changing the culture and delivery of public services.

This paper looks at how outsourcing has impacted government services and affected the economic security of the workers involved by focusing on two case studies:

• Outsourcing of "back office" work at BC Hydro to Accenture, including customer services, IT services, human resources, financial systems, purchasing, and buildings services; and

• Outsourcing of administration of the Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare to Maximus.

In both cases, work previously done by public sector employees is now administered by a multinational for-profit corporation.

Posted by Info Center at 4:26 PM in Custodial | Human Resources | Information Technology | Maintenance | Purchasing | Permalink

Source: By Jerel Wohl, Academe Online, September/October 2007

Nearly ten years ago, the University of Pennsylvania announced that it would outsource its facilities and real-estate operations to Trammell Crow Higher Education Services, Inc. The agreement included management of school facilities--155 buildings over 269 acres on the West Philadelphia campus, excluding the four hospitals and other units of the health system, an off-campus arboretum, and the veterinary school's large animal hospital, which is located outside of Philadelphia.

...... The contract, however, was reduced in scope in March 2000, when operations and maintenance components reverted back to the University of Pennsylvania while Trammell Crow continued to manage the capital project and real-estate components. Then, in 2002, the agreement with Trammell Crow was completely terminated and the university took back the responsibility for management of its capital projects, as well as the property management of real-estate holdings. Trammell Crow no longer had a presence on the Penn campus.

Posted by Info Center at 3:07 PM in Higher Education | Maintenance | Publicization | Permalink

Source: By Amanda M. Wimmer, The Northwestern (WI), June 24, 2007

Nearly two months after its building and grounds director was reassigned in the wake of an investigation of inappropriate computer use, the Oshkosh school district is considering eliminating its contract with the company that former building and grounds director Dwayne Turpin works for.

Sodexho, a global food service and facilities management company, the company hired in 2003 to manage the school district's maintenance and facilities, is paid more than $250,000 per year to provide management staff and other maintenance services.

.......... Earlier this month, Superintendent Ron Heilmann recommended the board terminate the contract with Sodexho and hire its own buildings and grounds director. The change would save the district about $134,000 per year, Heilmann said.

Posted by Info Center at 10:55 AM in Maintenance | Schools K-12 | Permalink

Source: THE FLINT JOURNAL (MI), Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Genesee County Community Mental Health Board of Directors could eliminate 21 jobs, which would wipe out one of two employee teams that reach out to hard-to-serve people with mental illness. ……. Russell said CMH clients won't be forgotten if a nine-person, in-house team is eliminated. The clients simply will be served by a contracted organization, such as others that already work with the agency

....... Russell said the job cuts, which would include closing a CMH cafeteria and eliminating internal mail delivery and maintenance positions, would allow the county to provide additional services with the savings.

Posted by Info Center at 10:57 AM in Food Services | Maintenance | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Privatization of Pittsburgh's repair garage hasn't saved much money or improved service, acting city Controller Tony Pokora said yesterday. Because the city underestimated the costs of vehicle repair, it must pay $1 million more than budgeted this year, and $3.5 million more than anticipated over the following two years, he said upon release of an audit of the garage. The privatization effort, launched by former Mayor Tom Murphy, "is a failure if we look at the numbers across the board," he said. "We're seeing problems consistent with when the city operated" the garage.

...... First Vehicle Services of Cincinnati, which took over the garage from the city in February 2005, issued a 35-page rebuttal.

Posted by Info Center at 3:07 PM in Horror Stories | Maintenance | Transportation | Permalink

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (WA), Friday, July 7, 2006 · Last updated 12:00 p.m. PT

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Community Colleges of Spokane engaged in unfair labor practices by hiring private workers for some jobs and making it difficult for union members to get information needed for negotiations, a state labor panel has found.

On June 30, the Public Employment Relations Commission ordered the colleges to stop subcontracting out several jobs and to stop "obstructing" union requests for information. "I think it's a strong statement that the state at all levels needs to negotiate about contracting out" labor, said Tim Welch, director of public affairs for the Washington Federation of State Employees.

Posted by Info Center at 2:27 PM in Higher Education | Maintenance | Permalink

Source: By Ed Enoch, Hattiesburg American (MS), June 7, 2006

Aramark hopes to begin operations at the University of Southern Mississippi's physical plant on July 1, and meetings are scheduled this month to help ease the transition.

...... Plant employees met with Aramark representatives on campus Monday to learn how their jobs and benefits would change with the proposed outsourcing. Some employees were unhappy with what they heard, especially about retirement plans.

"The security blanket we've got with the state is being taken away," carpenter Keith Mitchell said "We're very disgusted with it." Mitchell, 49, said he has concerns about losing a state retirement plan, which would be replaced by a proposed 401(k) plan. He said he feared the 401(k) is less stable than the pension.

Posted by Info Center at 10:49 AM in Higher Education | Maintenance | Permalink

Source: By Rachel Leifer, Hattiesburg American (MS), May 26, 2006

A petition 124 physical plant employees signed exhorting University of Southern Mississippi officials not to outsource their jobs to a private firm expresses concern over several issues. Chief among the signatories' worries is that Aramark's retirement plan is not competitive with the state employee retirement benefits. "The (state retirement plan) is one of the main reasons so many of us have stayed at USM even though the salaries for many of us are very low," the petition says.

Posted by Info Center at 9:55 AM in Higher Education | Maintenance | Permalink

Source: By KELLY MELHART, STAR-TELEGRAM (TX), Wed, Mar. 01, 2006

Managing the Keller school district's maintenance department is proving to be difficult, expensive and a source of frustration for some trustees and administrators. In September, trustees fired the district's maintenance contractor, Aramark School Services, after learning of missing records, broken equipment and financial mismanagement. Now a new company that trustees hired to move the maintenance department under district control says it expects the district to pay $285,170, almost twice as much as the $164,000 that the company and district officials originally agreed to. ..... Trustees learned of the cost overruns Feb. 10 in an informal report. The overruns were never mentioned in periodic maintenance reports that were shared with the school board. According to the original contract, The School Business Group was to receive $84,000 for temporarily overseeing the maintenance department, which includes custodians, and grounds and maintenance workers.

Posted by Info Center at 10:29 AM in Horror Stories | Maintenance | Schools K-12 | Permalink