Alternatives to Contracting Out

Alternatives to Contracting Out

AFSCME believes that public managers should explore alternatives to contracting out. Service improvements and innovation can be accomplished by front-line workers and managers working together in partnership. With committed managers and elected officials who recognize that workers are a valuable resource — a pool of talent, energy and experience — delivery of services can be improved without introducing the risks of contracting out. Various public jurisdictions have experienced the benefits of management and labor working together to improve services.

 

State of Ohio

Under the state of Ohio’s quality initiative, Quality Services through Partnership (QStP), labor and management work jointly in designing solutions to service delivery problems in state services. A total of $150 million has been saved since the inception of QStP — most of the savings generated from more than 2,600 process improvement teams.

 

Portland, Maine

Public officials in Portland succeeded in attracting a minor league baseball team to the city but financial resources were insufficient to hire a private company to build an adequate stadium. Instead, the city manager’s staff and union leaders jointly developed an innovative plan to construct a new facility using employees and equipment from the public works department. The final cost of the stadium was $2.5 million compared to an estimated $8 to $10 million that it would have cost if it had been built by a private contractor.

 

Warwick, Rhode Island

The city brought solid waste services back in-house after a joint labor/management team developed a proposal that was $1.1 million less than the lowest of the bids submitted by several contractors. The cost saving proposal was developed in a collaborative effort involving the mayor, members of the city council, finance director, city solicitor, public works department and union workers.

 

Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Labor and management in the Department of Children and Family Services have been successful in improving the department’s public image, service quality and working conditions. Labor and management worked together to cut the turnover rate for social workers from a high of 30 percent to less than 10 percent. In addition, the crisis hotline, which had not been effective, is now staffed with highly experienced and skilled workers.

 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The city’s labor/management cooperative effort, Reinventing Government Initiative (RGI) has expanded into more departments since its inception in the recreation department in 1998. It has achieved a variety of accomplishments. For example, the number of meals served under the federally funded summer lunch program managed by the city’s recreation department nearly doubled the first summer following RGI. More recently, the RGI committee in the forensics division of the police department has significantly reduced the backlog of cases by streamlining the receipt, registration and storage of evidence.

 

San Diego, California

A labor/management partnership in the San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Department, begun in 1998, has streamlined existing processes, centralized maintenance and warehouse functions, emphasized preventive maintenance, and developed efficient procurement and inventory control practices. The collaboration has saved the city in excess of $100 million since its inception.

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