[Excerpt] The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a unique perspective on the issue of contracting out because it represents both public and private workers in industries which involve significant contract work. While some of the problems with contract work can be resolved when employees of contractors are unionized, there are many services which are most appropriately performed by governments. In addition, when work traditionally performed by public workers is contracted out, the motivation is generally to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits, cutting staff and reducing the quality of service. SEIU\u27s public employee locals continually see the problems caused for public workers and the general public by the privatization of public sector work

McNichol, Liz

English

[Excerpt] The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a unique perspective on the issue of contracting out because it represents both public and private workers in industries which involve significant contract work. While some of the problems with contract work can be resolved when employees of contractors are unionized, there are many services which are most appropriately performed by governments. In addition, when work traditionally performed by public workers is contracted out, the motivation is generally to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits, cutting staff and reducing the quality of service. SEIU's public employee locals continually see the problems caused for public workers and the general public by the privatization of public sector work.Issue_15____Article_7.pdf: 852 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

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Fighting on Many Fronts: SEIU in Los Angeles

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Labor Research Review 
Volume 1 | Number 15 
Privatization & Contracting Out Article 7 
1990 
Fighting on Many Fronts: SEIU in Los Angeles 
Liz McNichol 
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© 1990 by Labor Research Review 
Fighting on Many Fronts: SEIU in Los Angeles 
Abstract 
[Excerpt] The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a unique perspective on the issue of 
contracting out because it represents both public and private workers in industries which involve 
significant contract work. While some of the problems with contract work can be resolved when 
employees of contractors are unionized, there are many services which are most appropriately performed 
by governments. In addition, when work traditionally performed by public workers is contracted out, the 
motivation is generally to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits, cutting staff and reducing the quality 
of service. SEIU's public employee locals continually see the problems caused for public workers and the 
general public by the privatization of public sector work. 
Keywords 
privatization, SEIU, Los Angeles 
This article is available in Labor Research Review: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/lrr/vol1/iss15/7 

Privatization 
Fighting on 
Many Fronts 
SEIU in Los Angeles 
"Liz McNichol 
Across the country, public managers have turned to contracting 
out as a way to reduce the size of the public sector and, supposedly, 
cut costs. From the perspective of both public employees and 
recipients of public services, there are many problems with this 
trend. 
Public workers face job loss and reduced pay and benefits as 
contractors seek to cut costs. The contracting of services to private 
(often non-union) companies reduces the strength of public 
employee unions and lessens their bargaining power. The public 
suffers as the quality of service is often reduced by private con-
tractors who do not have the same accountability to the public. 
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has a unique 
perspective on the issue of contracting out because it represents 
both public and private workers in industries which involve signi-
ficant contract work. While some of the problems with contract 
work can be resolved when employees of contractors are union-
ized, there are many services which are most appropriately 
performed by governments. In addition, when work traditionally 
performed by public workers is contracted out, the motivation is 
generally to cut costs by reducing wages and benefits, cutting staff 
• Liz McNichol is senior research analyst in the Research Department of the Service 
Employees International Union (SEIUJ. 
38 Labor Research Review #15 
and reducing the quality of service. SEIU's public employee locals 
continually see the problems caused for public workers and the 
general public by the privatization of public sector work. 
Los Angeles County where SEIU represents a broad range of 
county workers, is a prime example, of this trend. The five-member 
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors includes three conser-
vative supervisors who are solid in their determination that private 
companies take over as much of county government as possible. 
Workers in the county are virtually assured of losing when the 
decision to contract out a particular service is left up to the County 
Board. 
Nonetheless, county public employee unions, led by SEIU Locals 
535, 434 and 660, are as strongly opposed to contracting out as 
the Board is for it. The result is one of the biggest battles anywhere 
over the privatization of government services. 
What the Union's Up Against 
The momentum for contracting of services has been building 
in the county for a long time. Los Angeles County is the largest 
employer in the county, employing over 80,000 workers, with a 
total budget of more than $9 billion. In 1978 Los Angeles citizens 
passed Proposition A, which authorized the Board of Supervisors 
to contract out areas of government when they determine it is 
"more economical" to do so. This was later weakened by reducing 
the need to prove the cost effectiveness of contracting. Since the 
passage of Proposition A, the Board has awarded more than $300 
million in contracts and has eliminated nearly 4,000 jobs. 
The county's contracting-out program picked up speed in 1980 
when conservatives first won a majority on the Board of Super-
visors. The goal of the three conservative supervisors has been 
to privatize not just support activities such as clerical and custodial 
work, but also major county activities such as auditing functions, 
county health centers, and portions of the social services depart-
ment. TWenty-one Los Angeles County departments have submitted 
plans for major programs to be contracted out. 
And it doesn't stop there. There is pressure in Los Angeles 
County to privatize in as many county departments as possible. 
"Everything is up for grabs," says Louis Duran, a supervising 
deputy probation officer for the county and former president of 
SEIU Local 660. "It may not appear on the list this week, but there 
is nothing sacred, nothing that cannot be contracted out." 
Three SEIU locals that represent Los Angeles County workers 
have fought back against this pressure to contract out their jobs. 
Privatization & Contracting Out 39 
Experience has proven that lobbying the Board of Supervisors is 
not a fruitful avenue, as the conservative majority on the Board 
solidly supports all contracting efforts. As a result the unions have 
turned to other means, including community campaigns, bargain-
ing and membership mobilization activities, and pressure on 
potential bidders. 
Saving El Monte Health Center 
SEIU Local 660, which represents 40,000 Los Angeles County 
workers, has assigned a member of its Research Department to 
work exclusively on contracting out. One of the methods which 
the local has used to fight privatization is organizing the member-
ship around the issue. Within Local 660, workers from across the 
spectrum of County agencies have formed the Local 660 Com-
mittee to Stop Contracting Out to inform and organize the 
membership. The local has been successful in motivating workers 
to fight back directly for their own jobs, both by mobilizing against 
specific contracting proposals and by working to change the 
political climate in the county. 
The committee doesn't just spearhead organizing resistance in 
individual situations when workers' jobs are threatened. Its longer-
term goal is to reverse or moderate the county's current policy 
of contracting out any and all services possible. To accomplish both 
these goals, the union has mounted a campaign designed to 
educate the members, the community and the public about the 
problems with privatization, which go far beyond job loss for 
individual members. 
40 Labor Research Review #15 
Fighting against specific contracting out proposals is, of course, 
a major focus of Local 660's anti-contracting out committee. 
Because lobbying the County Board of Supervisors to vote against 
individual contracting proposals has proven to be a lost cause, 
Local 660 has turned to persuading potential bidders not to bid 
on County programs. This method was used successfully by the 
unions when Los Angeles County proposed to privatize the entire 
El Monte Comprehensive Health Center. Workers organized and 
with the help of community groups, including local schools and 
police departments, won the fight to keep the center public. This 
battle brought together all the elements of the local's campaign 
against contracting-out. 
The El Monte Comprehensive Health Care Center employs 300 
workers in a range of duties from custodian to nurse to physician. 
The County proposed selling the entire clinic, thereby converting 
jobs at all levels from county jobs to private sector jobs. The 
union's response provides a model for fighting contracting-out in 
an anti-public service political climate. 
Membership involvement in convincing the community, poten-
tial bidders and the press that they were determined to keep their 
jobs public was crucial to the success of this campaign. The unions 
set up informational pickets outside the center to distribute leaflets 
to the press and patients. Members of SEIU Locals 660, 535 and 
434, community leaders and patients marched together with signs 
that read "Keep Public Services Public," and "Services for People 
not for Profit." 
Hundreds of postcards were sent to the Board of Supervisors 
registering opposition to the proposed contract. The local paper 
came to the picket lines, where the union ensured that press 
releases were always available. 
The union made its presence felt by letting potential contractors 
know there was strong opposition to the county's proposal. When 
potential bidders did a walk-through of the clinic, the union was 
there and very visible. Individual workers displayed "Stop Con-
tracting Out" signs throughout the facility. Union representatives 
attended pre- and post-tour meetings and discovered from discus-
sions with potential bidders that they were counting on using the 
existing employees. 
Later, workers let the companies know that they were not inter-
ested in working for them by writing letters to potential bidders 
in which they refused in advance to accept positions with any firm 
that took over the clinic. 
The workers' efforts did not go unnoticed. After the walk-
through, potential bidders questioned the health center managers 
Privatization & Contracting Out 41 
about the strength of union support and worker resistance to 
contracting out. Several bidders said that the letters from workers 
refusing to accept positions with a private firm was a key reason 
for their not bidding on the contract. 
On the day that the County ran its advertisement in the "Bids 
Wanted" section of the Los Angeles Times, potential bidders and 
County administrators were surprised to discover the following 
Local 660 advertisement: 
"Please be advised that SEIU Local 660, which represents 
workers at the Health Center, will take the following action in 
regard to the proposed Contract for Medical Services: 
• Organize community opposition to the provision of services by 
a private contractor rather than by county employees, 
• Thoroughly investigate the financial and social records of your 
company and its principals, 
• Encourage and assist our sister unions in organizing your 
employees in the facility, 
• Notify other locals with whom you do business of your activity, 
and 
• Carefully monitor services and contract provisions to document 
erosion of service, inferiority of service provided by nonunion 
staff, and breaches of contract, and publicize our findings." 
As a result of this concerted activity, Los Angeles County 
received only one bid and ultimately decided not to contract out 
the health center. 
Other Campaigns, Other Tactics 
More recently, the Los Angeles County unions have embarked 
on a campaign at the County/USC Medical Center, which proposes 
to contract out 300 custodial jobs. The unions have established 
their anti-contracting out program to the point that with only a 
week's notice, they were able to assemble 200 people for a 
demonstration against this privatization proposal just two days 
after Christmas 1989. 
An informational picket met the companies interested in bidding 
on the custodial work at the door, and Locals 434 and 660 repre-
sentatives joined the "Bidders Tour" of the facility. This battle has 
just begun, but the union has high hopes that the successful tactics 
of the El Monte campaign will work again here. According to 
Robert Grayson, custodian at General Hospital, "There is no way 
we will allow this contract to happen." 
In addition to confronting bidders, Los Angeles County unions 
have successfully stopped contracting out through pressure on 
42 Labor Research Review #15 
department heads before 
proposals come before 
the Board of Supervisors. 
Worker involvement was 
a critical element in stop-
ping job loss in the Los 
Angeles County District 
Attorney's Office. Along 
with a plan for increased 
automation in the depart-
ment, the District Attor-
ney had proposed con- | 
tracting out a significant -| 
portion of the child sup- $ 
port enforcement pro- | 
gram in the county. 
Workers in the program organized a committee which, over the 
course of two years, kept pressure on the District Attorney to 
cancel his plans. 
The committee worked to develop the support of client advocate 
groups and put pressure on the District Attorney when he 
announced his campaign for state Attorney General. The union 
was able to convince a low-income legal center, which is a primary 
client advocate, that continued county provision of this service 
would be best for the clients. 
As a result of this variety of pressure tactics, the District Attorney 
came to a written agreement with the union guaranteeing job 
security for current employees. The agreement also defined the 
method which would be used to proceed with automation of the 
Family Support office. In addition, a Labor-Management Commit-
tee was established to oversee operations. 
While fighting against individual instances of contracting out, 
the unions in Los Angeles County are working in coalition with 
community groups to turn around the County's policy on con-
tracting out. 
In June 1988 SEIU Locals 660, 434 and 535 and other public 
sector unions joined with the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference to form the Labor-Community Coalition to Stop Con-
tracting Out. Since then other groups have joined, including the 
Union of American Physicians and Dentists, the Alliance of Asian 
Pacific Labor, and associations representing Black, Chicano and 
Asian employees. 
The coalition joined together to fight contracting out because 
the participants recognize that the impact of contracting goes far 
Privatization & Contracting Out 43 
beyond the jobs of individual workers. Privatization affects the 
quality of services which county residents receive, the economic 
health of the community, and the equitable distribution of income 
in the community. When county jobs are turned over to private 
contractors, wages drop and benefits are cut. 
Minority workers and their communities are among the hardest 
hit because they are disproportionately represented in the County 
workforce. Between 1985 and 1987, for example, three-quarters 
of the jobs lost to contracting out in Los Angeles County were held 
by Blacks and Hispanics, while they comprised slightly less than 
half the County workforce during the same period. Thus, they 
were nearly three times as likely to lose their jobs to contracting 
as other workers. 
The coalition has been active on a number of fronts in addres-
sing the problems of contracting out. The pressure to privatize 
services was initially generated by the passage in 1978 of Propo-
sition A, which authorized the Board of Supervisors to contract 
out County services. Last year, the Labor-Community Coalition 
to Stop Contracting Out submitted a resolution to the Los Angeles 
County Grand Jury, signed by 50 organizations, asking that the 
Grand Jury sponsor a comprehensive audit of all Proposition A 
contracts since 1978. 
The coalition also gathered 8,000 signatures on a letter to the 
Grand Jury asking for such an audit. The letter and resolution 
asked that the Grand Jury consider the following three questions: 
Has contracting out saved tax dollars? Have contracted services 
been better or worse than when performed by public employees? 
And, have contractors used fair employment practices consistent 
with County policies? The Grand Jury has audited County con-
tracts in the past but never with this specific focus. 
In addition, the Labor-Community Coalition to Stop Contracting 
Out held a rally at the county-sponsored "Public Service Recog-
nition Day" to protest the contracting of the jobs of the very 
workers being honored that day. 
Workers in Los Angeles County have proven that even in a 
county where the political climate is solidly against their efforts, 
they can find innovative and successful ways to fight the contrac-
ting out of public jobs. By mobilizing members, working together 
with community groups, using the media, and through direct 
action techniques, unions are hopeful that they will soon be able 
to change the political climate as well. • 


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