ACU: Hot on the Privateers' Tail

MINNEAPOLIS

At the 1999 biennial AFSCME Corrections United (ACU) National Congress, COs resolved to combine forces on a national scale to stave off the spread of prison privatization. When they met here in August, the tone was more upbeat.

Pres. Gerald W. McEntee told hundreds of COs: "The private prisons are going down the drain. Undertrained, understaffed, undermanaged, undersecure, and now they're just going under." He pointed out how ACU has helped to pass laws in Illinois (banning private prisons), New Mexico (regulating them) and Oregon (prohibiting the department of corrections from sending inmates to private prisons in other states).

The ACU Congress welcomed newcomers to the union family: COs from Puerto Rico, Kentucky and Missouri — locations where AFSCME has pressed politicians to open the floodgates to organizing. McEntee emphasized that "organizing isn't just about growing bigger; it's about growing stronger — stronger so we can fight the evils of privatization."

The organizing tempo is increasing among COs. Dozens of them have traveled to the union's prime campaign sites to talk to workers about the benefits of union representation. In addition, an internal organizing program is picking up speed in right-to-work Texas.

On a somber note, Crystal Nagle, the widow of Daniel Nagle, was presented with a memorial plaque in his honor. CO3 Nagle, the father of three, was murdered two years ago while on duty at a Texas prison. As president of Local 3890, he had championed union causes and openly criticized the state's poorly managed prison system.

McEntee told the COs that AFSCME would pay for the college educations of the Nagle children.