My Sometimes Conservative Wife Just learned How Privatization works.

[Historic NY]

12. I just had this discussion with a guy complaining about union DPW..

workers in a small village. Apparently he is the part time Johnnie come lately. He thought the village should hire out the DPW work so he could get some more hours working there in another dept...(he is tea bagger material). They village apparently cut the pt employees in favor of not letting full timers go. When I explained it happened in our town, thats why the water dept doesn't fix leaks, the sewer dept doesn't clean the sewers, that private landscape companies mow grass. Its not necessarily cheaper for the town, yeah they might not be paying benefits but they are paying. There really isn't any incentive on the part of the contract employess in doing the job and there is usally high turn overs as the company contracting tries to squeeze more money from the town. They seem to think it costs less. Funny that some of the long time guys were rehired by the contractor all while collecting pensions or retired benefits. The town still must maintain some equipment & facilities. In the end privatization takes away, some civil service jobs. It replaces those jobs with lower paying salaries and revolving the door. Some loss of service and less say by the taxpayers in how the service is to be handled. Local jobs go away for the long term. The greatest loss experienced in my town has been "institutional knowledge", a hundred years or more of water & sewer plant systems and stuff that maps don't show. Privatization always costs in the end.