POINTS TO PONDER
Issue 02-23
From Your Federation President
NARFE Members of California:
CONTRACTING OUT JOBS - President Bush has indicated that he
plans to place as many as 850,000 government jobs up for competition to private
contractors. Many retirees claim they can't get too excited about that because
they are retired and contracting out will not affect them. Well let me tell you, it
will affect you, and of course, it will affect our colleagues who are still working.
The following dissertation is taken from the February 2003 Massachusetts
Federation Newsletter and is provided to you for information and food-for-thought.
The 850,000 government jobs that the Government plans to place in competition
for private contractors is nearly half the current Federal Workforce. This new
policy can be enacted without Congressional approval, according to the Washington
Post, and sets a target date sometime in the next two years. The government
contends that its intent is to save money by ensuring the lowest cost for many routine
duties like mowing lawns, picking up trash, making eye glasses, and printing checks
and would NOT apply to any policy-making or most managerial jobs.
Contracting out OPM and other government jobs to the lowest bidder may sound
like a good idea to many, but the real tradeoffs may not be worth it. Automating and
contracting out the retirement claims process of OPM could result in Current Federal
Employees and Retirees losing access to their records and an even greater loss of
confidence in its quality.
On a different level, contracting out to the lowest bidder perpetuates the myth that
Current Federal Employees are not good workers and are highly overpaid. Yet
another myth seems to have been deliberately set. Targeting one-half of the Federal
workforce in one sentence and then declaring only routine jobs like lawn mowing and
picking up trash are being considered, leaves the unmistakable conclusion that all
government jobs are routine, which of course they are not.
Another potential threat would be to every citizen's privacy. Ask yourself this; would
you accept having a low-paid, non-policy making, private contractor having access to
your Social Security records? What about your Medicare or Veteran's Administration
or your Internal Revenue Service records? Or, the records from any other agency that
may have information pertaining to you? Contracting out government work to the lowest
bidder actually has a very spotty record. It has not been that long since stories of huge
cost overruns as well as inflated pricing schemes were exposed. Last, but not least,
corporate corruption may also become an issue. Given the recent revelations, it would
not be difficult to imagine a hypothetical example, such as one part of H&R Block
preparing your tax returns while another part of H&R Block audits your return and
provides advice to the government, ala Arthur Anderson.
Your NARFE leaders have been alerted to the situation and are carefully monitoring
developments at OPM. They will be seeking to express your concerns and find
additional opportunities to provide input as more information becomes available. NARFE
Chapter and Federation leaders should communicate this information to the membership
and express their concerns directly to their Representatives and Senators in Congress.
Chapters should organize their membership to make telephone calls, write letters and
e-mails and make personal visits to district congressional offices.
Although our priority legislative issues are Premium Conversion, GPO and WEP, we
should also make an effort to voice our concerns on this issue. Incidentally, this is one
of the legislative issues that NARFE is fighting, as shown in our pamphlet L-2, for the
108th Congress.
Till Next Time....
Lea D. Zajac,
Your California Federation President
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