From the Blog

• Apr 04 So Long, “Owlcatraz” GEO Group cancels plan to purchase naming rights to Florida Atlantic University’s football stadium.
• Mar 06 Mother Jones’ Hit Job on Unions: With Friends Like These... Magazine inaccurately attacks public service employees who work every day to help our communities.
• Feb 27 Private Prison Company Buys Florida Atlantic University Stadium Name GEO Group has long history of unsafe and inhumane conditions at facilities
• Feb 25 Illegal sale of Pennsylvania lotto blocked by state attorney general Pennsylvania attorney general rules lotto privatization effort unconstitutional.
• Feb 14 AFSCME Members Take their Message to the Hill Workers from across the country went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby their legislators.
• Feb 06 In Private Hands, Safety Issues Quickly Arise in Ohio Prison The Lake Erie Correctional Institution was sold in 2011 under Gov. John Kasich’s administration.
• Jan 15 Register Now for Dynamic Legislative Conference Want to raise your voice for workers? Come to Washington, DC, and do just that.
• Dec 04 Florida Privatization Scheme Illegal, Judge Rules Decision: State illegally bypassed Legislature to implement Gov. Rick Scott’s scheme.
• Oct 24 America’s Workers Fed Up With Romney’s Say Anything Strategy You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool AFSCME members any time.
• Oct 15 Romney-Ryan Medicare Plan Picks Seniors’ Pockets Changing Medicare to a “voucher” system means higher premiums for 6 out of 10 seniors.
• Oct 15 In Ohio, the Next Chapter in a Fight for Workers AFSCME campaign volunteers speak up for Obama and fair Congressional representation.
• Sep 28 Governor Kasich’s Crusade to Privatize Ohio’s Transportation Department Attacks on public employees in the Buckeye State despite the important work they do.
• Sep 26 Rising Inequality the Direct Result of Policy Choices New EPI report highlights role of Congress in lives of working families and the poor.
• Sep 21 Jindal’s Job Hypocrisy Hurts Louisiana Governor cares about his deep-pocketed campaign donors, not jobs.
• Sep 20 What’s Stirring the Waters in Kenova? AFSCME Local 598 in West Virginia fights efforts to privatize water and sanitation services.
• Aug 30 Paul Ryan Acceptance Speech Light on Reality Wisconsin retirees: Paul Ryan would “tear seniors’ safety net to shreds.”
• Aug 29 They Said What?! Remarks from anti-worker governors at the Republican National Convention had us scratching our heads.
• Aug 17 Oklahoma Workers Regain AFSCME Union Membership Aquatics technician Dustin Williams of Muskogee, Okla., shares his story
• Aug 15 Romney-Ryan Ticket Raises Question: Do We Still Believe In Community? Mitt Romney’s choice of Rep. Paul Ryan confirms contempt for working people and public services.
• Aug 14 Paul Ryan’s Real Motivation: Cutting, Privatizing Public Services, Programs Ezra Klein says Rep. Paul Ryan would radically change the way government provides public services.
• Aug 08 Florida AFSCME Members Organize, Defeat Privatization Scheme North Miami Beach city council overwhelmingly voted down a plan to privatize sanitation services.
• Aug 03 Win-win for Residents and Public Service Workers in California In a recent open competition over operation of a San Diego landfill, city workers won.
• Aug 03 New York Members Speak Out Against Parking Meter Privatization Call for city workers to continue their effective job of raising more than $150 million/year in revenue.
• Jul 30 Indiana Judge Condemns Privatization Taxpayers lose out when a plan to privatize the state’s welfare system ends in failure.
• Jul 13 Cities in Default, a Mouthpiece in Denial Municipal bankruptcies give The Wall Street Journal another excuse to lie about public employees.
• Jul 11 AFSCME Member Action Saves Florida’s Jackson Hospital Rapid mobilization spiked a hasty attempt to privatize the entire Miami-Dade Jackson Health System.
• Jun 29 Muskogee City Employees Win Back Collective Bargaining Rights City council restores rights that were stripped away last spring.
• May 30 North Miami Beach AFSCME Members Fight Sanitation Privatization Member mobilization, community outreach put the brakes on city manager's push to privatize sanitation services.
• May 08 AFSCME Social Worker Rescues Infant 23-year social services veteran subdued mother to save wounded infant in Baltimore.
• Apr 26 Jindal Bows to Public Pressure, Halts State Prison Sale Louisiana governor’s plan to sell a prison called off due to public outcry.
• Apr 19 Florida AFSCME Members Fight Privatization Members of AFSCME Council 79 participated in the Push Back Summit to Save South Florida.
• Apr 10 Library Workers Will Not Be Shushed On National Library Workers Day, AFSCME is fighting to protect our nation’s public libraries.
• Apr 10 University of California Irvine Ends Outsourcing of Custodial Services After a four-year battle, 94 custodial workers were officially classified as University employees.
• Mar 27 Florida Local Stops Privatization Scheme Community sides with workers, against attempt to privatize the Hallandale Beach Building Services Department.
• Mar 22 Maryland Workers Beat Back Privateers Prince George’s County Public Schools will not contract out Before- and After-Care services.
• Feb 21 Prison Privateer Offers to Buy Prisons from Starving States Corrections Corporation of America will give cash in exchange for own-and-operate services.
• Feb 14 Prison Privatization Fails in Florida Senate Plan is rejected by a 21-19 vote, handing Gov. Rick Scott a major defeat.
• Feb 02 Volunteer Member Organizers Head Out in Tulsa, Okla. City employees organize against privatization and anti-worker threats.
• Jan 31 Florida Public Safety for Sale Republican state Sen. Mike Fasano speaks out against a bill to privatize Florida's prisons.
• Jan 25 ‘Our Democracy is Not for Sale’ Arizona retirees, public service workers and community activists protest undue influence of corporate special interests.
• Jan 19 Prison Privatization in Florida Puts Public at Risk State moves closer to putting prisons in the hands of lobbyists and for-profit corporations.
• Nov 07 State Pushing Cuts on Backs of ‘Grateful’ Workers New York Times takes a critical look at the pitfalls of outsourcing public services.
• Oct 25 CNBC Puts a Spotlight on For-Profit Prison Firm Report cites assaults at privately run Idaho Correctional Center.
• Oct 20 Judge Blocks Michigan Veterans Home Privatization Scheme Veterans’ health and safety comes first, judge rules in outsourcing dispute.
• Oct 01 Florida Court Rebukes Governor’s Prison Sale Ruling blocks Gov. Scott’s plan to turn 29 state facilities over to private contractors.
• Sep 13 Privatization Doesn’t Pay, POGO Study Proves New report details why contracting out is a bad idea for taxpayers.
• Jun 14 Prison Privatization as Political Payback Taxpayers wind up paying more when private contractors cut corners on safety, health and services.
• Jun 02 NYC Privatization Scandal Grows With New Arrest City’s over-reliance on outside contractors results in yet another example of waste, fraud and corruption.
• May 19 Private Prison Savings Are a Hoax New York Times report shows prisons run by private corporations cost taxpayers more, not less.
• May 18 AFSCME Members Beat Privatization in Pennsylvania Northampton County voters overwhelmingly reject a ballot measure to privatize Gracedale nursing home.
• May 10 School Privatization Conference Draws Hundreds of Protesters Attendees gathered in DC to discuss replacing the public education system with a voucher program.
• May 04 Prison Corporations are ‘Making a Killing’ New report details corruption, increased cases of violence and death at for-profit facilities.
• May 02 USDA Tells Walker: Don’t Privatize Food Assistance Program! The federal government notifies Wisconsin that privatizing the FoodShare program would violate the law.
• Mar 30 Just Say No to SB 5 Today, the Ohio state House is set to vote on Senate Bill 5 (SB 5), a bill that would strip collective bargaining rights from 350,000 public service workers in the state. SB 5 is one of the cornerstones in Gov. John Kasich’s plan.
• Mar 24 Maine Gov. Attacks Workers, Erases History Maine Tea Party Gov. Paul LePage (R) has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depicting Maine’s labor history from the lobby of the state’s Department of Labor offices, claiming they received “some complaints”
• Dec 23 Guide to Talking Unions This Holiday Season It's easy to tune out misinformation about unions and the workers who make them strong when you hear it on the news, but what should you do this holiday season when the same misinformation comes from your friends and family?
• Sep 24 The GOP’s Bizarre and Cynical “Pledge to America” One can only marvel at the extreme cynicism evident in the Republican Party's bizarre 21-page "Pledge to America." The document is only the tip of the iceberg and masks the real agenda of Republican leaders.
• Jun 03 Privatization is a Dirty Word Privatization has become a dirty word. And for good reason. Imagine where we would be today if George W. Bush had gotten his way and gambled away our Social Security on the stock market.
• Mar 10 Obama Takes on Contracting Abuses Last week, President Obama ordered new guidelines for contracting in federal agencies. In a memorandum sent to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, he ordered a government-wide review of federal contracting procedures.
• Feb 19 Audit Reveals Abuse in Highway Contracting Some contractors who design and build the nation’s highways wrongly charged taxpayers $73 million for ballooning executive compensation, lavish perks and other unallowable expenses, according to an article by Robert O’Harrow Jr. in the Washington Post.
• Aug 25 Social Security Gets Clean Bill of Health from CBO
• Jul 18 An Enormous Victory
• Jul 09 McCain’s Ignorance About Social Security Is the Real “Disgrace”
• Mar 20 McCain Puts Retirement at Risk
• Feb 27 Don’t Mess With Our Roads
• Feb 14 Indiana State Hospitals: No to Privatization
• Nov 09 Highwaymen & Privateers
• Jul 11 Rhode Island AFSCME Members Win Privatization Fight
• Jun 12 Univ. of California Custodians Win Major Victory
• May 11 Council 94 Takes the Fight to TV