Raiders of the Lost Jobs

Coming soon to your neighborhood, a tale of corporate raids and public fear as profit-driven privateers take over public-sector jobs. Rated PG: Public guidance suggested.

Whether you live in a large city or a small town, there’s a corporate executive with an eye on your job.

Billion-dollar corporate raiders with names like Lockheed Martin IMS, Marriott International and Corrections Corporation of America see potential profits in every jail, school cafeteria, welfare office, health clinic and landfill.

They promise voters and elected officials big tax savings through private management of public services. To help that message go down, they give big bucks to politicians and political parties. Their grab for union jobs is usually wrapped with patriotic "pro-business" rhetoric coming straight from right-wing think tanks. They’re slick and fast and know all the buzz words to get maximum mileage for their message.

From city to city and state to state, AFSCME members are confronting these corporate giants: keeping services in public hands whenever possible, fighting for collective bargaining agreements when it’s not. And AFSCME members in communities across the country have even beaten these Goliaths at their own game. They have shown that unionized public workers can get the job done faster, cheaper and better.

Although the names of these companies are familiar, their dubious records are not. Here are a few of the Big Business barons who might be swooping into your town.

• Columbia/HCA
• Lockheed Martin IMS
• Maximus
• Marriott Management Services
• Corrections Corporation of America
• Browning-Ferris Industries
• Waste Management, Inc.