AFSCME Local 127 Calls on Mayor Sanders to Quit Stalling on Outsourcing Rules

Blue-Collar Workers Have Waited since October for Mayor to Bargain

SAN DIEGO – (Wednesday, March 3, 2010) – The union representing blue-collar workers at the City of San Diego called on Mayor Jerry Sanders today to take action on setting up the rules for his job outsourcing program after stalling on negotiations since October 2009.

Sanders had previously agreed to rules for his so-called “managed competition” job outsourcing program in 2008 that included safeguards for worker healthcare, service quality and taxpayers. However, Sanders has since backed away from those commitments and has not even sat down with employees for nearly six months.

“The Mayor has made this outsourcing program the centerpiece of his agenda, yet he can’t even keep his commitment on the rules he agreed to two years ago,” said Joan Raymond, president of AFSCME Local 127. “Instead, it’s been much more politically expedient for Mayor Sanders to accuse employees of delaying his program when, in reality, he is the one who is stalling.”

AFSCME Local 127 sent the Mayor’s Human Resources Director a letter today urging the City to take action.

Among the safeguards that Sanders agreed to in 2008 but has since flip-flopped on:

• Considering the employer’s contribution to employee healthcare costs when weighing private bids, so that companies can’t win contracts just by cutting workers’ healthcare.
• Calling for a minimum level of service that a private contractor would have to provide if it won a contract in order to protect service quality.
• Providing city employees who have performed the duties and functions that are outsourced a trial employment period of 90 days with the contractor in order to retain institutional memory for providing services to taxpayers.

AFSCME Local 127 represents more than 1,900 construction, water, wastewater, maintenance, trash collection and landfill workers at the City of San Diego.

Attachments:

1. Letter to Scott Chadwick, 3/3/2010
2. Mayor’s Press Release Agreeing to Safeguards He Now Won’t Agree To, 5/2/2008
3. Timeline on so-called Managed Competition

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