WHEREAS:

President George W. Bush, with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has launched the most sweeping reorganization of the federal government in 55 years. The DHS will pull 170,000 workers from 22 different departments. Of these employees, 49,000 are bargaining unit members in 17 different unions covered by over 60 collective bargaining agreements. What President Bush does at the DHS may well redefine what it means to be a federal civil servant; and

WHEREAS:

Presidents have long had the right to designate certain federal employees ineligible for union membership because of their security role. But unlike his predecessors, Bush has abused this power by exercising it to halt an organizing drive rather than address a legitimate national security concern. He exercised this right in January 2002 by revoking the bargaining rights of over 800 employees in the Department of Justice, including many AFSCME members, and destroying several local unions in the process. The establishment of the new Homeland Security Department, without limiting Bush's broad powers, creates an environment for further union busting; and

WHEREAS:

The DHS legislation also allows the President to create new personnel systems for the department. Although the legislation requires that any new system retain the civil service principles of merit and fitness, the new department will be allowed to create its own systems of labor-management relations, classification and pay, performance appraisal, and adverse actions and appeals. These new personnel systems can be created with only token input from unionized workers; and

WHEREAS:

Only days before signing the DHS legislation, the Bush administration announced a sweeping, historic privatization of the federal government. The Bush administration would allow the private sector to compete for as many as 850,000 federal jobs, nearly half of the federal civilian workforce. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) says the competitive process would save taxpayers "tens of billions" of dollars. The General Accounting Office says that proposals with numerical goals are not based on sound analysis. We know only too well that privatization leads to higher costs to taxpayers and lower quality services; and

WHEREAS:

At the same time, the Office of Management and Budget issued a controversial rewrite of Circular A-76, which establishes the rules for public-private competition. Among many alarming provisions, the new guidance allows the administration to turn over civilian government jobs to the private sector without a competition of any sort if there is a "reasonable chance" it will save money; and

WHEREAS:

These two proposals, together with the union-busting earlier this year at the Justice Department, represent a wholesale assault on the federal workforce and federal unions. More ominously, these proposals portend a return to the "spoils system" of government that civil service rules were created to avoid; and

WHEREAS:

The contradictory actions of the Bush administration clearly expose the true purpose of these proposals. In the aftermath of September 11, the Bush administration took airport baggage screening out of private hands and created a new federal agency with 44,000 new federal airport security agents, who were declared union exempt. Now, the air traffic control system is one of the many functions to be put up for private bid.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME strongly opposes President Bush's privatization initiative and will fight aggressively against it; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME calls on Congress and the President to suspend privatization of federal services and functions until a full accounting of currently privatized functions has been conducted; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will closely monitor developments at the Department of Homeland Security. AFSCME will work to ensure that these employees retain union representation rights and that personnel systems created will be fair and equitable; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME will seek to work with a broad-based coalition of organizations, including civil rights, advocacy and public administration organizations, to oppose President Bush's plans to privatize and politicize the federal workforce; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME calls on the AFL-CIO to mount a comprehensive and coordinated campaign involving its affiliates that will oppose the Bush privatization initiative and defend the rights and security of the federal public sector workforce.

AFSCME International Executive Board
December 12, 2002