Protest in D.C.
Union Fights Layoffs At U.S. Labor Dept.
By ARI PAUL

U.S. Department of Labor employees June 6 protested the contracting-out of agency work and the possibility of layoffs in a rally at the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.

AFGE Local 12 Photo RATS TO LAYOFFS: Nearly 100 members and supporters of American Federation of Government Employees Local 12 rallied against the Department of Labor's planned layoff of 250 employees, with their duties to be contracted out to private firms.

Alex Bastani, the president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 12, said that the number of private businesses contracted to do department work has sharply increased since President Bush took office.

On May 7, according to the union, 250 department workers received notices that their jobs had been eliminated. Those people are still working, Mr. Bastani said, though they are waiting to hear whether management has found other jobs for them within the department. Most of the workers affected are African-American women, the union said.

Nearly 100 union members and supporters attended Local 12's rally, according to Mr. Bastani. AFGE National President John Gage decried privatization in other Federal departments and agencies, he said.

The department outsources work that is not inherently governmental, but there is a debate between management and labor over the definition of this category.

The Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998 determines what is and what is not an inherently governmental job. The department considers facilities management, guard services and technology support staff not to be inherently governmental, but Mr. Bastani did not agree.

"The statutory definition of what is an 'inherently governmental function' is extensive, and this is just a sense of what is encompassed in that definition," said Sharon Worthy, a Department spokeswoman.

Decreases Efficiency

Mr. Bastani said that in 20 years of working at the department, he has never seen the amount of contracted labor he has during the current administration. He added that outsourcing can make a workplace inefficient.

"You're getting rid of all this institutional knowledge," he said.

Outsourcing in government offices is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it something unions always oppose, said Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. What unions advocate and what government offices usually adopt, he said, are guidelines stipulating that outsourcing can only be done when it is clearly a cost-saving measure.

"What this administration has done has gone around those guidelines," he said. "This administration has adopted a hostile response to Federal Government unions."

Mine Safety In-House

There has been progress in securing jobs within the department. In May, President Bush signed a bill prohibiting the department's Mine Safety and Health Administration from outsourcing its labor.

Mr. Bastani said privatization of the Federal Government was an injustice, and Mr. Baker said the fact that this department in particular is having internal labor problems is a troubling sign for Federal government workers in general. For the union, the biggest fear right now is the prospect of job losses in the department.

"These are highly skilled, dedicated employees who are being treated unfairly," said Eleanor Lauderdale, executive vice president of Local 12, in a statement. "It is incomprehensible that the Federal Government would play a role in helping to destroy the American middle class."