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Public Sector
Health
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Allied Industrial |
Public Sector |
Railroads
Public employees who work for school districts, cities, counties, states and the federal government are an important part of the NCFO membership.
While railroad employees have bargaining rights under the Railway Labor Act, and most other private sector workers have these rights under the National Labor Relations Act, there is no federal law giving public workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. Therefore, NCFO members who work for different levels of government in various states are subject to public employee laws that vary greatly. Some can bargain over wages while others cannot. In some states they have the right to strike but in most they do not. Employees of some local and state governments are covered by Social Security while other jurisdictions have been allowed to "opt out" of the Social Security program. Similarly, public workers are not automatically covered under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. State laws and regulations often take precedent in matters of safety and health for public employees.
On the other hand, public employees have one opportunity that their union brothers and sisters working in the private sector do not - they can elect, or defeat, their bosses. Whether it be in local, city, county, state or federal elections, public employees can individually and collectively work to place and keep defenders of good public services in office. That is why NCFO locals representing public workers are among the most politically active in the union. Traditionally, public sector jobs were considered to be among the most secure. But in the past 20 years the rights of public employees have been under ever increasing assault by conservative ideologues and business interests.
At every level of government, from federal government employees to bus drivers in the local school district, public services and public workers are under unrelenting pressure and face common problems.
Adequate Funding - Since the tax-limitation initiatives of the late 1970s and early 1980s, funding for public services has been under attack. Freezing wages, attacking public workers, cutting staffing to make fewer workers do more work, neglecting infrastructure and passing irresponsible tax cuts for the well-to-do have been common actions by politicians seeking to court favor with voters. For more information see: Center on Budget & Policy Priorities at
www.cbpp.org/state and Citizens for Tax Justice at
www.ctj.org
Privatization - The idea that the private sector can deliver high-quality public services better and cheaper is one of the great myths of our time. Time after time, introduction of the profit motive into the delivery of basic public services has led to high staff turnover, low morale and declining quality of service. For more information see: Economic Policy Institute at
www.epinet.org/privatization.
Undermining Public Education - Our public schools have been the foundation of American democracy but funding for public education has been hampered by unfair funding systems, school vouchers and turning school administration over to private companies. For more information see:
www.nea.org/issues/vouchers and
www.aft.org/privatization
Attacking Social Security - Wall Street wants Social Security transformed into a system of individual investment accounts so brokers can make huge profits. But another aspect of the well-funded campaign to undermine confidence in Social Security - the most popular government program of them all - is often overlooked. Anti-government foundations and think tanks know if Americans lose confidence in Social Security and are willing to support its privatization, then no government function will be safe from privatization. For more information see:
www.aflcio.org/socialsecurity
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