Politicians don’t like surprises. Whether it’s being flooded with so many faxes and e-mails that it clogs their office communication systems, or being hit with unpleasant accusations about conflicts of interest, elected officials tend to take actions to get rid of the problems created by those surprises.

Those two examples—a massive fax and e-mail campaign and the use of unflattering corporate information about a policymaker—are two pieces of successful recent campaigns waged by AFT PSRP leaders and their members to win important victories. In Oklahoma City, charges of conflict of interest against a school board chair helped sink a radical contracting-out scheme that literally could have destroyed close to 1,000 school support jobs. In New Mexico, an all-out effort to convince state legislators to vote for a piece of legislation was the last element in an aggressive lobbying push that resulted in a new law raising pay for paraprofessionals statewide.

Ways to skin a fat cat

In Oklahoma City, the AFT local’s fight was for survival. In August 2003, the school board chair started pushing a plan to outsource the district’s entire array of support services. The proposal came out of discussions by an ad hoc committee (which met in secret) pulled together by board chair Cliff Hudson. He happens to be the CEO of Sonic Corp., a large fast-food chain headquartered in Oklahoma City—in other words, a powerful local political and business figure.

A couple of years ago, national anti-union forces managed to get a right-to-work law passed in Oklahoma, and the AFT saw the aggressive contracting-out proposal as another quick-and-dirty solution that might appeal to other cities. “We knew the eyes of corporate America were looking at Oklahoma City,” says David Gray, president of the Oklahoma City Federation of Classified Employees (OCFCE).

The union has faced a series of challenges in recent years, and as a result has gained extensive experience working with a coalition of community allies, including religious, civic, labor and parent groups. In addition to rallying its own members to get active, the union immediately turned to the coalition to help defeat the privatization plan. But the union also used a tool more common in private-sector labor fights: negative corporate information about elected officials.

The AFL-CIO’s Food and Allied Service Trades (FAST) department specializes in so-called “corporate campaigns,” and it didn’t take long to find information that put Hudson and his board allies on the defensive. It turned out that Sonic and Sodexho (one of two companies competing for the lucrative school district contract) had signed an agreement to bring Sonic franchises into Sodexho-managed facilities across the country. Gray and the union called on Hudson to resign as school board chair because of this apparent conflict of interest. Interestingly, the press release detailing the Sonic-Sodexho deal disappeared from Sonic’s public Web site, and the company spent a lot of time denying that an agreement ever existed.

Almost every week, the union organized events that kept its fight in the local media, a central part of the strategy to defeat the contracting plan. “We kept the community’s eyes focused on this issue,” Gray says.

Besides the unflattering corporate information about Hudson and others linked to the plan, the union worked hard to rally its members and community partners—more than 10,000 fliers were sent out—to get out the word about the dangers of privatization. The message to the broader community incorporated horror stories from other private contractors in schools to spotlight the potential risks to students’ safety, whether from unsafe food or private bus drivers with criminal records.

On the day the school board was finally set to vote on the plan—after it delayed a decision for months—hundreds of union members and their supporters rallied outside the school administration building. They then packed the March 22 meeting, with many providing moving testimony about the risk of privatization and their value to the school system. The board voted 8-0 against the proposal, with the school superintendent saying it would not end up saving the district any money.

One lesson from this success, Gray says, is that “we couldn’t have done it alone. I can’t emphasize coalitions enough.”

As an outsider helping the Oklahoma City local, Jeff Fiedler of FAST has his own perspective. “Not that many people would be willing to take on the school board chair,” he says. “So if you attack somebody, you’d better win” or there could be serious repercussions. In essence, Fiedler says, the corporate campaign kicked up enough problems for Hudson and his allies that they needed to figure out a way to end the bad publicity. And that meant killing the privatization plan.

“I’m guessing it will be years before they take on [OCFCE] again,” Fiedler predicts.

New Mexican hat trick

In a state like New Mexico, with a population of fewer than 2 million, it’s an impressive feat to send more than 36,000 faxes and e-mails to state legislators on a single piece of legislation. But that’s what members of the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees (NMFEE) did as part of their lobbying to get HB 304 approved and signed into law in March. The new law, approved in the final days of the legislative session, creates four levels of licensing for educational assistants (as paraprofessionals are called in New Mexico) and appropriates $8.2 million to bring all 5,000 paraprofessionals in the state up to an annual minimum salary of $12,000.

The previous year, the NMFEE had made a priority of winning a multi-tiered licensing system for teachers—along with higher salaries—and many PSRPs had helped with that campaign. PSRP leaders worked hard within the state federation to craft a similar initiative for paraprofessionals and get the legislation moved to the top of the state fed’s legislative priorities.

Kathy Chavez, president of the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association and a state fed executive vice president, has made a name for herself in New Mexico and beyond for bringing attention to PSRP issues. “I’m always letting people know that we are just as important as anyone in the state federation,” she says. “I make sure that we’re there and that we count.”

During the final lobbying push, teachers from the AFT’s Albuquerque local and elsewhere in the state were right there with the PSRPs, contacting their legislators to get HB 304 passed and making sure the governor signed it. Gov. Bill Richardson, elected with strong support from the NMFEE, signed the bill on March 1 at Albuquerque High School with Chavez and NMFEE president Christine Trujillo by his side. Educational assistants “are vital to the success of our educational system,” Richardson said. “Not only do we need to respond to help them meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind, we should recognize the valuable work of educational assistants and pay them accordingly. This bill starts that process.”

In addition to setting the $12,000 minimum salary starting next school year (many paras in the state now earn less than $10,000), the law sets other minimum pay levels: $15,000 for employees who pass an assessment; $20,000 for those who have 48 college hours or pass a performance portfolio review; and $25,000 for assistants who earn an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

As with any legislation, compromise was essential. The NMFEE wanted a law that appropriated more money and set even higher minimum pay levels, but the final bill included less money. Nevertheless, Chavez says, it was a huge victory. The law is now on the books with money attached, and it’s always possible to improve the law and increase the funding.