privatization

  • Will Massachusetts Teachers 'Stand' Against Attacks?
    Dan Clawson
    May 24 2012 - 12:01pm
    ** Print only

    Under assault from the misnamed Stand for Children, teachers in Massachusetts are about to give up seniority as a criterion for layoffs, and give principals greatly increased power over personnel issues.

  • Union, Riders Chase a Better Bus System
    Matthew Cunningham-Cook
    Apr 24 2012 - 4:25pm

    Despite the fact that 2011 saw the highest transit ridership in a half century, many regional and municipal transit authorities are facing huge budget cuts and steep service reductions. But several local coalitions are working to expand transit options.

  • Occupying Parents Win an Audience, but Chicago Schools Still Privatize

    After parents occupied Chicago’s Brian Piccolo Elementary School February 17, they won a commitment from the school board to meet and discuss the “turnarounds” at Piccolo and a neighboring school—measures that would mean firing all the staff and handing the schools over to a private operator. The dialogue didn’t change the result.

  • New York Governor, SEIU 1199 Raise Hackles with Medicaid Deal
    Mark Brenner
    Jan 9 2011 - 9:48am

    New York’s Medicaid redesign will privatize the state's home care network, costing 700 city jobs and tossing 40,000 low-income elderly and disabled into managed care agencies that a union says cut corners. AFSCME says SEIU 1199 OK'd the deal.

  • Toronto-Area Transit Workers Strike against Privatization
    Mischa Gaus
    Dec 1 2011 - 12:11pm

    “The problem is privatization,” says Toronto-area transit union leader Bob Kinnear, so bus drivers are on strike to bring the problem to the public. Passengers north of Toronto pay the highest fares in the area, but workers get the lowest wages.

  • Michigan Unions and Poor Face 85 Hostile Laws
    Evan Rohar
    Oct 26 2011 - 4:28pm

    Michigan's “emergency manager” bill allowing a state-appointed executive to unilaterally fire city councils and school boards and cancel union contracts is just the beginning. Eighty-five bills blame Michigan’s economic problems on public employees and the poor.

  • Unions Say Postal Default Is a Big Lie
    Jenny Brown
    Sep 27 2011 - 9:51am

    The story line from Postal Service management is simple and apocalyptic: The public is emailing and paying bills online, bankrupting the post office. Postal unions say that's dead wrong: They say the bosses are manufacturing a crisis to push a union-busting privatization agenda. The unions are rallying nationwide today.

  • Building a Coalition from the Grassroots
    Howard Ryan
    Sep 16 2011 - 12:30pm

    New York is a tough town for education advocates. The mayor is a corporate operator with a privatization agenda. The city’s teachers union offers meager resistance. Rank and filers are building a no-cuts coalition, showing activists they shouldn't wait for permission.

  • New York’s $600 Million Fraud Shows Privatization Doesn’t Pay
    Mischa Gaus
    Jul 27 2011 - 12:09pm

    How did New York City plan to prevent time theft by city workers? By hiring contractors who would, it turns out, steal $600 million. One of their crimes, prosecutors allege, was to file bogus timesheets.

  • Decades after King’s Assassination, Memphis Reignites Labor Struggle
    Cole Weintraub
    Jun 20 2011 - 10:03am

    Decades after a sanitation strike Martin Luther King was assassinated while supporting, the union King backed may lose jobs to privatization. The attack follows rallies nationwide honoring his sacrifice.