The unions papered the Capitol with memos and letters stating their opposition to the bills. United Public Workers State Director Gary Rodrigues said the privatization bill will cost public workers their jobs, and the union hopes to return the favor to any lawmaker who votes for it. We may as well get a Republican elected that will do the same thing. Lawmakers said both bills are needed to make government more efficient and to cut expenses. Both measures are supported by Gov. Ben Cayetano, who conducted a rare full-court press of his own, lobbying in briefings and personal visits to lawmakers' offices yesterday.
Lawmakers expect privatization to be approved today.
Senate Bill 1096 would allow the mayors and governor to choose whether to allow the public worker unions to compete with private companies for the opportunity to provide public services, or to simply solicit bids from private companies and contract out the work. Lay offs feared Of particular concern to the unions are provisions that would allow the state and counties to lay off public employees if government decides to hire private companies to handle tasks the public workers had been doing. The unions oppose the layoff provisions, but state and county managers say layoffs may be necessary. Unless the state and counties can reduce the size of the public employee payroll, there is really no money to be saved by privatizing work that is now handled by government. A survey of lawmakers late last year found a majority in the House did not want to allow layoffs of public workers when services are privatized, but sentiment has apparently shifted.