By
GREGORY N. HEIRES
DC 37s national union is engaged
in a war against Republican Gov. Jeb Bushs effort to destroy the civil service
system, privatize government services and cripple the labor movement in Florida.
AFSCME has launched a statewide fight-back campaign. The goals are to sway
public opinion against Bushs scheme, rally the states 100,000 public
employees to combat it, and to make sure his lease on the statehouse ends with
the 2002 election.
Over the long term, AFSCME aims to strengthen the
union in Florida, where questionable voting practices last year led to the Supreme
Court decision that in effect selected George W. Bush as president of the United
States.
Hector Coto, assistant director of the DC 37 Professional Division,
and former DC 37 Rep Gladys Camacho were among more than 50 unionists that AFSCME
dispatched to Florida in March to participate in a counterattack.
Bushs
plan would undermine civil service there by:
- removing
16,000 state workers from the career service system, leaving them with no job
protections
- cutting the work force by 25 percent over
five years,
- privatizing government services,
- allowing
supervisors to fire workers without cause, and
- eliminating
seniority and bumping rights in layoffs.
More than 1,500
AFSCME activists and public ?employees traveled from around the state to the capital,
Tallahassee, for a boisterous April 9 rally against Bushs Service
First initiative. Some traveled over 500 miles to get there.
Were
not going to roll over, said Gerald W. McEntee, international president
of AFSCME, who describes the Bush plan as union busting. Were not
going to give up, McEntee said. Hell no.
Some labor
officials have characterized the Bush offensive as payback against unions for
fighting for a fair vote count in Florida in the presidential election.
At the rally, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney told Gov. Bush, You and
your brother George W. Bush stole the votes of thousands of Floridians, and we
will not let you steal the future from thousands of state employees.
In recent weeks, AFSCME activists like Mr. Coto and Ms. Camacho put in long
hours as they prepared for the April 9 mass demonstration, gathered signatures
from state workers on a petition against the plan, and visited workers at job
sites and in their homes.
We run into some apathy, but the Bush
plan is giving the union a new life, Mr. Coto said. When your job
is threatened, he said, thats a reason to become united.
Ms. Camacho, who retired late last year, said her approach to mobilizing
members for the petition drive and demonstration relied on a little New York bravado.
A lot of people felt the plan was a done deal, said Ms. Camacho.
But I said, Dont give up. If someone is going to kick you, you
are going to get up and fight.