OPPOSITION OF LEGISLATION THAT ALLOWS PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS TO BE CONTRACTED OUT TO PRIVATE INDUSTRY

WHEREAS, public employees are accountable to the organization they are working for; and

WHEREAS, public institutions have a structure of oversight that ends with elected officials who are accountable to voters; and

WHEREAS, public sector jobs provide living wages, which workers spend to strengthen the local community in which they live; and

WHEREAS, contracted positions rotate personnel regularly, preventing investment in the local community; and

WHEREAS, public sector institutions are beholden to communities while private industry is beholden to shareholders:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers opposes new laws or reforms that would allow fewer restrictions on the contracting out of public sector jobs; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT opposes attempts to eliminate or gut existing laws restricting contracting out and support additional regulations that would preserve quality of services by keeping these services and our jobs from being outsourced to private companies that are not accountable to the public; and

RESOLVED, that, consistent with the AFL-CIO goals of increasing participatory support between locals and other unions, the AFT is directed to inform all locals of contracting threats to any local and to strongly urge direct action by locals to support those under threat of attacks by contracting out union jobs.