Privatization of public services is a global threat that must be turned back. That was the consensus of more than 600 public sector unionists representing 145 countries at the 27th World Congress of Public Services International (PSI) in Ottawa, Canada, in early September.

Delegates to the World Congress, including leaders from AFT Public Employees affiliates in Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky and New York, overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for international union opposition to corporate and political efforts to privatize a variety of public services, including transportation, education and healthcare.

"The last few years have seen serious policy failures in some high-profile privatization and public sector reform programs," according to a resolution offered by PSI's executive board to establish a global quality public services campaign.

The PSI resolution, which was approved by delegates, establishes a campaign similar to one launched in 1997 by AFT Public Employees. That campaign, Quality Services from Quality People , responded to the growing pressure in the United States to privatize and cut back public services. Three general objectives of PSI's campaign are:

•  to ensure public services are adequately funded so that well-trained and properly equipped workers can deliver quality services to all people who use them or want to use them;
• to develop the ability of public services to meet social objectives, including eradicating poverty and providing affordable healthcare; and

• to ensure that all public sector workers have rights on the job and quality working conditions.

"There is growing awareness that quality public services, not de-regulation, are essential to well-functioning societies," the resolution reads. "The market is increasingly seen as needing social controls and regulation. Market failures have fueled social destruction and have widened inequities."

One component of the campaign is community education. PSI maintains that public sector trade unions must educate communities about the lack of accountability of transient groups working on government contracts compared to the accountability of government workers.

"I was surprised that privatization is a major issue around the world," said Bruce Ludwig, business manager of the Alaska Public Employees Association and one of the AFT Public Employees delegates. Jim Riley, president of the North Dakota Public Employees Association who was an observer representing AFT Public Employees, noted that the recurring message from all delegates was that "privatization is something that has been done for profit by companies around the world, often at a great cost to society."
 

Global economy, worker rights

The impact of globalization was a pervasive topic of discussion and the subject of a resolution introduced by AFT Public Employees, which was overwhelmingly passed by delegates. The resolution calls on PSI to monitor the impact of globalization on education, healthcare, public services, workers' rights and trade unions.

Speaking to the resolution, Joe Fox, vice president of the New York State Public Employees Federation and an AFT Public Employees delegate to the World Congress, noted that "globalization has the potential of raising the standard of living for working men and women worldwide." But public and private sector workers in both industrialized and developing countries are losing ground, he asserted. "Jobs are being destroyed, wages cut and social safety nets shredded in the name of competition and free markets."

Fox said the resolution was not anti-globalization; rather, it was a statement against global policies and strategies that "deliberately and systematically increase the power and control of giant multinational corporations that ignore and violate core labor standards, cut public sector jobs and undermine the fundamental institutions of democracy."

The resolution noted that with few exceptions, International Monetary Fund and World Bank economic reform programs require borrowing nations to privatize public services, deregulate industries and introduce labor market flexibility and free trade policies.

These policies, negotiated as conditions for financial assistance, have devastating consequences for workers and their families, trade unions and other democratic institutions, according to PSI. Budgets for education, healthcare and public services are sharply cut, and privatization and labor market policies are implemented without regard to democratic procedures, collective bargaining agreements, labor laws and the rights of workers. Environmental regulations and social and economic policies are routinely bypassed or eliminated to create an attractive environment for foreign direct investment.

The World Congress, which meets every five years, also addressed efforts to help PSI affiliates in Korea, Colombia and other countries where trade unionists are jailed--sometimes murdered--for their involvement in the labor movement. Women's rights and equity also were widely discussed, with the recognition that women's wages and job opportunities continue to lag across the globe. According to PSI, women earn between 50 percent and 88 percent of men's earnings.