Side letter yields new clout on outsourcing
Outsourcing task force gears up
Members volunteer to help expose wasteful contracts, save jobs
A new task force created by the June side letter is beginning to focus on private vendor contracts that can be eliminated so that the cost savings can help preserve member pay and state jobs.
More than 100 member volunteers began investigating state contracts to support the work of the task force and Local 1000's anti-outsourcing campaign.
Members volunteer to help expose wasteful contracts, save jobs
A new task force created by the June side letter is beginning to focus on private vendor contracts that can be eliminated so that the cost savings can help preserve member pay and state jobs.
More than 100 member volunteers began investigating state contracts to support the work of the task force and Local 1000's anti-outsourcing campaign.
The task force, which consists of Local 1000 members and representatives of the state departments of Finance, Human Resources and General Services, met for the first time on Aug. 1.
In the coming months, Local 1000 plans to ask the task force to investigate approximately $2 billion in vendor contracts to look for situations where contractors can be replaced by state employees working at equal or less cost.
"This side letter requires the state-- through our new task force--to make its most serious effort ever to cut outsourcing," said Margarita Maldonado, Local 1000 vice president for bargaining. "We believe this task force will be a powerful vehicle for reducing private contracting while benefiting taxpayers and our members."
Longtime campaign pays off
The task force is the latest advance in a campaign to reduce state outsourcing that goes back nearly six years. Since 2006, Local 1000 challenged more than 100 state contracts before the State Personnel Board (SPB)--winning 80 percent of the time--in cases where we argued that contractors were illegally doing work that could be performed at the same or less
cost by state workers.
In many cases, these victories led directly to state workers being hired to perform work previously handled by private contractors. This includes two Southern California veterans homes where 70 food service employees were hired last year after a successful challenge.
Over the same time period, Local 1000 has supported legislation to make it easier to identify state out- sourcing and reduce contracting. One Local 1000-sponsored bill, AB 740, which the governor signed into law late last year, requires state agencies to be accountable and change their business practices after the SPB rules that a private vendor contract is illegal.
Members investigate contracts
To support the new task force, Local 1000 has trained staff as well as a network of longtime member activ- ists. The ranks of those activists grew Aug. 3 when more than 100 members spent one day training to identify and document outsourc- ing, and then examine contracts for themselves.
"We really need front-line members to be our eyes and ears in their departments to start looking at contracts there," said Michael Bonner, an employee of the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) who helped conduct the training.
"That work gives us a strong basis for researching and then challenging these contracts."
In the coming months, Local 1000 plans to ask the task force to investigate approximately $2 billion in vendor contracts to look for situations where contractors can be replaced by state employees working at equal or less cost.
"This side letter requires the state-- through our new task force--to make its most serious effort ever to cut outsourcing," said Margarita Maldonado, Local 1000 vice president for bargaining. "We believe this task force will be a powerful vehicle for reducing private contracting while benefiting taxpayers and our members."
Longtime campaign pays off
The task force is the latest advance in a campaign to reduce state outsourcing that goes back nearly six years. Since 2006, Local 1000 challenged more than 100 state contracts before the State Personnel Board (SPB)--winning 80 percent of the time--in cases where we argued that contractors were illegally doing work that could be performed at the same or less
cost by state workers.
In many cases, these victories led directly to state workers being hired to perform work previously handled by private contractors. This includes two Southern California veterans homes where 70 food service employees were hired last year after a successful challenge.
Over the same time period, Local 1000 has supported legislation to make it easier to identify state out- sourcing and reduce contracting. One Local 1000-sponsored bill, AB 740, which the governor signed into law late last year, requires state agencies to be accountable and change their business practices after the SPB rules that a private vendor contract is illegal.
Members investigate contracts
To support the new task force, Local 1000 has trained staff as well as a network of longtime member activ- ists. The ranks of those activists grew Aug. 3 when more than 100 members spent one day training to identify and document outsourc- ing, and then examine contracts for themselves.
"We really need front-line members to be our eyes and ears in their departments to start looking at contracts there," said Michael Bonner, an employee of the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) who helped conduct the training.
"That work gives us a strong basis for researching and then challenging these contracts."
