AFSCME Adds to CCA's Woes

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

More than 100 AFSCME members marched into Nashville on Sept. 12 to protest at a Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) shareholders' meeting.

A large contingent of activists from the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 11 were joined by their brothers and sisters from Maryland Council 92 and Local 2173, Brushy Mountain Tennessee State Prison Employees. Their message: The nation's corrections system should answer to the public, not to corporate executives and shareholders.

CCA executives had called a special shareholders' meeting here to discuss a desperate restructuring measure. The company's bottom line is suffering, and shareholders have worry that the firm could go bankrupt. Some shareholders have filed suit, alleging improper dealings by executives.

"CCA knew that we were there. We got a pretty good response from taxpayers who drove by waving and honking their horns," says Tom Higginbottom of Local 2173, who joined the group in front of the downtown hotel where the meeting was held. "[CCA has] fooled the taxpayers into believing that they're really saving money. But I think public opinion is starting to turn."

Higginbottom, a member of the ACU National Steering Committee and a 24-year CO, says he likes combating privatization. He's been fighting it in Tennessee since 1985, but he worries now about the upcoming Presidential election. "I do believe that if George W. Bush gets elected President, you'll see privatization raise its ugly head again," he warns. "They've got several prisons in Texas sitting down there empty. He's the godfather of privatization."