2014: The year the states began to de-privatize

In 2014, taxpayers began to halt runaway privatization of government services. Maryland's Legislature passed a law banning private contractors from contracting with the state if they broke the law. In Oregon, Nebraska and Connecticut, legislatures passed laws requiring more supervision of private contracts.

Today, dozens of cities, counties and school districts are set to impose more control over private contractors, according to a new report by In The Public Interest.  And a total of 19 states had legislation introduced that would let taxpayers reclaim control of public services.

The rush to privatize government services began in the 1970s with claims the private sector could do it 'better, faster and cheaper,' than the government. But by now citizens are finding out 'privatization' often means private contractors looting the public treasury.

In, Chicago, residents rebelled against the privatization of the city's 36,000 parking meters. According to the Atlantic Monthly,

Parking-meter rates had suddenly gone up as much as fourfold. Some meters jammed and overflowed when they couldn't hold enough change for the new prices. In other areas, new electronic meters had been installed, but many of them didn't give receipts or failed to work entirely. And free parking on Sundays was a thing of the past. 

The new meter regime sparked mass outrage. People held protests and threatened to boycott. But there was little recourse: The city had leased its 36,000 meters to a private Morgan Stanley-led consortium in exchange for $1.2 billion in up-front revenue. The length of the lease: 75 years.

It got worse: an inspector general's report found the city's taxpayers overpaid the Morgan Stanley consortium by $974 million.

Here's another example: 65 percent of state contracts with private prison company CCA guarantee 90 percent of the prison beds will be filled, or the state will pay CCA for the difference.

Teamsters have successfully fought privatization of public services when it will replace Teamsters with low-paid, poorly trained contract workers and higher costs to taxpayers. The Teamsters represent several hundred thousand public sector workers.

The In the Public Interest report describes some sensible proposals to let taxpayers take more control of government spending on private contracts:

• In California, a resolution passed the Assembly that said lawmakers opposed any outsourcing of public services and assets that did not meet standards of transparency, accountability, shared prosperity and competition. 
• In Georgia, a bill was introduced requiring contracts to demonstrate a 10 percent cost savings to taxpayers. Minnesota lawmakers considered a bill to require a 15 percent savings from a private contractor.
• A Tennessee proposal would ban contract language that guarantees corporate profits at taxpayers' expense, including 'lockup quotas.'
• A Vermont will would make it easier for taxpayers to cancel a contract if the company doesn't deliver quality services and cost savings. 
• A West Virginia lawmaker proposed a bill that would ban companies that evade taxes or broke the law from receiving state contracts. It would also require fair pay and reasonable benefits. 

Today's Teamster News 10.13.13

Interior allows a dozen iconic national parks to reopen with state funding  Washington Post   ...What began as a sort of modern Sagebrush Rebellion — with Utah county commissioners threatening to bring in a posse and dismantle federal barricades themselves — has become an intense negotiation between Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and governors across the country eager to reopen public lands that generate valuable tourism revenue...
Over 865,200 Gallons of Fracked Oil Spill in ND, Public In Dark For Days Due to Government Shutdown  Desmogblog.com   ...Over 20,600 barrels of oil fracked from the Bakken Shale has spilled from aTesoro Logistics pipeline in Tioga, North Dakota in one of the biggest onshore oil spills in recent U.S. history. Though the spill occurred on September 29, the U.S. National Response Center- tasked with responding to chemical and oil spills - did not make the report available until October 8 due to the ongoing government shutdown...
Report Finds Police Worldwide Criminalize Dissent, Assert New Powers in Crackdown on Protests  truthout   ... the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations details a global crackdown on peaceful protests through excessive police force and the criminalization of dissent…. The case studies detailed in this report show how governments have reacted to peaceful protests in the United States, Israel, Canada, Argentina, Egypt, Hungary, Kenya, South Africa and Britain...
U.S. Said to Open Criminal Probe of FX Market Rigging  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, a person familiar with the matter said...
Stop the Presses: Apple Has Not Been Cleared on Tax Avoidance Charges  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...the SEC is now satisfied that Apple is not violating the rules in the disclosure of its tax circumstances to the agency, which has nothing to do with the legal validity of its tax avoidance methods more generally...
Anti-government anger fuels long-shot Maryland breakaway bid  Reuters   ...His Western Maryland Initiative is just one of several secession proposals that are emerging across the United States. Nearly a dozen rural Colorado counties have put nonbinding secession referendums on their November ballots. A split-off proposal for southern Florida has also been floated.
Some residents of northern California want to join with counties in southern Oregon to form their own state. Liberals in Tucson, Arizona, fed up with the conservative state governor and lawmakers, want out as well...
Power outage shuts U.S. food stamp program for hours in 17 states  Reuters   ...A brief power outage caused food stamp recipients in 17 states to lose access for much of Saturday to the electronic system used by stores to verify their benefits, leaving many unable to buy groceries, the company that manages the system said. The power outage that started the problem was fixed within 20 minutes, Xerox Corp spokesman Kevin Lightfoot said, but shoppers kept running into difficulties through the day...
Europe proposes more global governance to eclipse U.S. laws  Trade Reform   ...The European Union’s top trade official, in one of the first concrete proposals in the trade negotiations with the United States, called on Thursday for a new trans-Atlantic group that would coordinate the work of United States and European regulatory agencies...
France is pushing for a Europe-wide Google tax  Quartz   ...France is pushing for a the European Union as a whole to adopt a minimum tax on digital companies, which it will formally introduce at an EU summit meeting about the digital economy later this month...
China Exports Unexpectedly Drop  Bloomberg   ...China’s exports unexpectedly fell in September, signaling constraints from global demand and highlighting distortions from fake invoices that have yet to be eliminated from trade data...
Fast Food Workers Win a Union…through Zoolidarity   BeyondChron   ...Last month 142 mostly part-time food service workers, public employees at the Oregon Zoo, showed it could be done, winning a landslide election to join Laborers Local 483 in Portland. They join 137 already-union admissions and custodial employees at the zoo—about half of these are temps—doubling the size and power of the bargaining unit just in time for contract negotiations...

Today's Teamster News 05.25.13

It’s Called Deceptive Price-Gouging  Working Life   ...AT&T Inc. has added a new monthly administrative fee of 61 cents to the bills of all of its contract wireless lines as of May 1, a move that could bring in more than a half-billion dollars in annual revenue to the telecom giant...
EU oil pricing probe spurs lawsuit against BP, others  Reuters   ...A Chicago-based commodities trading firm has filed suit against three of the world's largest oil companies, accusing them of colluding to fix oil prices after European authorities opened an investigation last week...
Wall Street Seeks Dodd-Frank Changes Through Trade Talks  Bloomberg   ....U.S. bankers and insurers are trying to use trade deals, which can trump existing legislation, to weaken parts of the Dodd-Frank Act designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis...
It's a "Trade" Pact not "Free-Trade" Pact  CEPR   ...the pact has to do with a range of regulatory issues, in many cases seeking to impose rules that might not pass muster if they had to go through the conventional political process...
Budget Cuts Get Personal; Those Who Are Hurt, Holler  ABC News   ... Nearly four in 10 Americans now say sequestration has hurt them personally, up substantially since it began in March – and they’re far less sanguine than others about the economy’s prospects overall...
I-5 bridge collapses over Skagit River; possibly triggered by truck  Seattle Times   ...A law-enforcement source said investigators believe a truck with an over-sized load heading south struck the bridge, which started bouncing, then fell...
Bangladesh factory collapse probe uncovers abuses  BBC News   ...It also recommended life sentences for the building's owner and the owners of five garment factories operating there...
Sweden riots spread beyond Stockholm despite extra police  BBC News   ...In the affected areas themselves, some people say the riots are a response to discrimination and relatively high unemployment. Sweden, once a by-word for equality, has seen a widening gap between rich and poor...
Chief Edward Flynn blasts Scott Walker, Legislature  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ..."I don't know of a governor anywhere in the country who succeeded in turning his state's economy around by actively facilitating the decline of his biggest city," Flynn said...
Ohio unions remain vigilant against anti-worker blitz  People's World   ...Labor and the huge We Are Ohio coalition have been holding a series of mass meetings across the state, organizing against introduction of three right to work (for less) bills by right-wing GOP Ohio legislators this session...
Maryland Bucks Trend, Expands Prevailing Wage Law  AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council   ...While other states are passing anti-union laws, Maryland passed the largest expansion of the prevailing wage law in the state’s history...
Florida Governor Signs Election Reform Bill Reversing His Own Voter Suppression Laws  ThinkProgress   ...Though Scott initially insisted he “did the right thing” by implementing these laws, vehement backlash and plummeting approval ratings prompted the governor to embrace election reforms:..
Kansas lawmaker opposes ‘encouraging the behavior of purchasing food’ with lower food taxes  Raw Story   ...A Republican state lawmaker in Kansas says that he opposes cutting the taxes on groceries because it would be a form of “social engineering” that encourages people to buy food over other items...