Privitizing City & County Government Services

Private-sector unionism has declined in significant part since the 1970s because of the decline in basic-industry activity in general. The fewer manufacturing jobs, the fewer manufacturing labor-union members. Heckscher (1988, p. 239) cites the decline in mass-production industries and the massive "unemployment and technological change," which is code for automation that has supplanted mass-production workers that had been unionized. The service sector, which has received so much attention, has not historically unionized to the extent that the manufacturing sector has, although as we shall see that fact has shifted in the most recent period. Heckscher also notes the increasing levels of dissatisfaction among the technology-oriented replacements for mass-production workers who have displace workers formerly protected by unions, citing "the growing discontent among semiprofessional employees: middle managers, technicians, sales representatives, engineers, investigators, and others who constitut

. . .
tions of the [county] treasurer," who pleaded guilty to the mishandling of county finances that led to the bankruptcy (Woodyard, 1995, B1). Wessell (1995) argues that privatization should only be undertaken to increase efficiency and productivity. In other words, it should not be used as a labor-relations or union-breaking strategy. There is no statistical evidence, however, that such a distinction has historically been adhered to. Indeed, the attitudes of workers likely to be affected by privatization appear to be based on the idea that union-breaking or staff reduction as a policy is a primary consideration of certain privatization efforts. This makes privatization a political issue. In the Boston case, for example, custodians' union officials complained of being unfairly targeted by government and citizens alike: Jelley, the union chief, says his outfit keeps getting mixed messages. He contends that the biggest expenses in keeping schools open after hours and on weekends are related to utility costs. . . . "I thought saving money was an issue. If it's not, then open the doors to everyone. But don't make me responsible if something goes wrong. I've been a custodian 27 years, and when something goes wrong, they'll blame our guys.
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
, According Wessel, Management Agency, Ten Reagan's, Chinese Sweeney, B1 Wessell, Custodians' Association, Los Angeles, Board Supervisors', Harrison Bluestone, los angeles, government services, privatization efforts, los angeles times, angeles times, city county, boston globe, labor unions, schwada 1995, orange county, union officials, city county 109, orange county california, harrison bluestone 1988, american city county,
Approximate Word count = 5818
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)