[Dryerase] AGR Bush to privatize 850,000 federal jobs

[Shawn G]

Asheville Global Report
WWW.AGRNews.org

Reprinting permitted for non-profit use and to the members of the Dryerase 
news wire.

Bush to privatize 850,000 federal jobs for ‘market based government’

By Shawn Gaynor

Asheville, NC, Nov. 20 (AGR)—  In a bold post-midterm-election move, 
President Bush announced plans to cut nearly half of all federal jobs, and 
allow private companies to bid for the work. According to the AFL-CIO, prior 
to the election, Bush had been calling for the privatization of 15 percent 
of federal jobs.
The privatization move mirrors some of the “structural adjustment” programs 
that have been forced on weaker nations by the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF) and World Bank.  These programs have lead to a decrease in wages, a 
destabilization of economies, and an accelerated concentration of wealth in 
the hands of the rich.
“This administration is selling the federal government at bargain basement 
prices to their corporate friends, who then make campaign contributions 
back,” said Bobby L. Harnage, President the American Federation of 
Government Employees(AFGE). “This is not about saving money, it’s about 
moving money to the private sector.” The Union represents 600,000 federal 
workers.
The jobs have become open to privatization because of the rewriting of the 
OMB Circular A-76, which governs the public-private competition process. The 
administration believes this process doesn’t allow contractors to take 
federal employee jobs often enough or fast enough.
Federal employee trade unions vowed on Friday to keep fighting plans by the 
Bush administration to open nearly half of government jobs to competition 
from the private sector, but the new concentration of federal power in the 
traditionally anti-union Republican party leaves unions with little 
recourse.
According to the Associated Press, “After a 30-day public review period, 
[President] Bush can impose the new rules without congressional approval.”
The plans is said to involve only workers  in “commercial activities,” which 
the corporate mainstream media has reduced to “lawn mowing.”  In reality the 
privatization will likely include such government services as the running of 
federal prisons and national parks.
The Government Accounting Office has determined that public-private 
competition will save taxpayers 30 percent on each contract. But Paul Light 
of the Brookings Institute said “They may low-bid to get the contract, and 
once the Federal Government denudes itself of its capacity, they start 
ratcheting up their costs.”
The move comes as the house and senate voted to create the new Office of 
Homeland Security, the largest shift in government programs since the New 
Deal.  The legislation mandates the elimination of union rights and 
whistleblower protections for over 170,000 federal workers that will be 
moved from 22 federal agencies into the newly created department. Many of 
these workers currently belong to unions.
“Undermining the collective bargaining rights and civil service protections 
of federal employees on the front lines of the war on terrorism does not 
improve the security of our homeland,” stated Harnage
“Now we see the real White House agenda -- it’s not homeland security, it’s 
union busting,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the 
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“This proposal means that the safety of our communities could be entrusted 
to the administration’s favorite companies and their lobbyists instead of to 
dedicated, trained federal workers. It’s wrong to entrust our homeland 
security to the lowest bidder,” he said.
Also buried in the 484 pages of the new Homeland Security legislation are 
provisions relaxing rules on giving federal contracts to overseas companies, 
opening the door for federal jobs to be out-sourced to countries notorious 
for sweatshop labor practices.
“How serious are [Republicans] about coming up with a good bill if they’re 
going to protect companies who declare that they don’t want to do business 
in the United States of America, to avoid paying taxes?” asked Tom Daschle, 
the Democratic Senate leader.

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