privatization

  • 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.

  • Mass Teacher Layoffs and School Closures Hit Detroit
    Howard Ryan
    Apr 19 2011 - 6:08pm

    Detroit is now a trendsetter in the dismantling of public schools and stripping of teachers’ union rights. The schools' chief handed layoff notices to all 5,466 teachers and staff, in a bid to pick and choose who stays and who goes.

  • Get on the Bus: Transit Union Looks to Ally with Riders
    Paul McLennan
    Apr 13 2011 - 3:37pm

    Responding to near-universal threats of budget cuts and privatization, transit workers and transit riders are learning to work together, like these Toronto activists did. A transit union's “boot camps” are their proving grounds.

  • Michigan Law Would Overturn Local Democracy, Shred Contracts
    Dianne Feeley
    Mar 14 2011 - 11:00am

    A bill in Michigan would give astounding unchecked power to emergency managers appointed by the governor to oversee towns or school districts. Appointees could fire elected officials, tear up union contracts, outsource, slash services, and sell off public assets. Protesters will fill the state Capitol for the fourth time this week.