Washington Watch
Conservatives sing same old song: "Corporate interest, yes! Public interest, no!"
AFSCME members are angry at the nationwide attack on the interests of working people. That includes Alice Moore, a member of Local 3039 (Council 79) in Tampa, Fla. A customer service specialist with the state government, Moore has watched as public services have been sold off to profit- making private corporations.
"The state wants to save money, business wants to make it," Moore says. "And we don’t know from one day to the next whether we’ll have a job." It’s a bitter irony that Moore’s job is with the state Department of Labor and Job Security.
State and local officials are taking their cue from Congress, where conservatives put the interests of big money over the needs of working Americans in everything from public education to job safety.
AFSCME is working in Congress to help rank-and-file members like Moore stay ahead of the game. High on the political agenda for 1998 are health care, fighting privatization, workfare rights, and health and safety.
CARE-FULL. With consumer confidence in health care low and the cost of premiums rising, it’s no wonder that more and more people can’t afford health insurance.
Fortunately, despite conservative Republican opposition, there is also considerable support in Congress for passage of some consumer health care protections. Legislative proposals will include setting enforceable standards for quality health care, protections for whistleblowers, guaranteed access to emergency services, and the right to independent appeal of treatment decisions.
Rising health care costs are likely to become a part of the debate. According to International Vice Pres. Peter Benner, executive director of Minnesota Council 6, some bargaining units are looking at 15 percent premium increases in upcoming contract talks. Nationwide, experts predict increases of 5-10 percent for 1998 alone.
WORKFARE REVISITED. To quote Yogi Berra: "It’s deja vu all over again." Republicans say they’ll renew attacks on minimum wage and labor protections for workfare participants at both the state and federal levels.
Says International Vice Pres. Mike Murphy, president of Wisconsin Council 40, "It’s totally hypocritical. State tax collections are up; there’s money to spend. But politicians are screaming they can’t afford the minimum wage. Instead, they’re calling for tax cuts."
Murphy believes attacks on workfare rights are designed "to create a huge pool of low-paid service workers, which would save employers money and threaten public jobs."
AFSCME will fight to keep jobs for public employees and for the rights of all working Americans.
OSHA DEFORM. In another concession to big business, legislation introduced on Capitol Hill would jeopardize workers’ health and safety to save employers a little money (maybe). Conservatives in Congress are pushing to gut Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforcement powers — making the agency an advisor to businesses.
In the proposed new world of health and safety oversight, on-site inspections would be denied, even in response to valid complaints. Employers could pick and pay their own inspection consultants — keeping OSHA out.
Jay Herzmark has watched OSHA reform debate as an industrial hygienist at the University of Washington and shop steward and safety committee chair for the Washington Federation of State Employees Local 1488 (Council 28). Herzmark notes that a penny-pinching approach to safety misses the point: "OSHA saves lives."
FOR-PROFIT GOVERNMENT. Cor-porations are smiling all the way to the bank as Congress approves privatization of government services. We’re told privatization — or letting private companies do government work — is the way to improve efficiency and cut costs. Right.
Across the country, experiments with privatization are exposing gross inefficiencies and cost overruns. In Texas, for example, Anderson Consulting spent $63.7 million more than it projected when it contracted with Texas for an automated child-support tracking system. Anderson’s problems also caused the state’s backlog of child-support cases to increase to four years.
It is time that American legislators face the truth. Any government "fat" squeezed out by privatization ends up as whipped cream topping for corporate executives.
By Catherine Barnett Alexander
