MEA Votes

Gubernatorial hopeful Rick Snyder wants to outsource thousands of public education jobs to private companies, if he's elected Nov. 2.

His public plan to "reform Michigan's educational system," which calls for mandatory competitive bidding of all non-instructional services, runs contrary to what Snyder claims is his No. 1 priority -- to create more and better jobs.

Because when it comes to public education, outsourcing never means "more and better." It means fewer jobs. Less pay. No benefits.

Gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero opposes the outsourcing of public school employees' jobs to private companies -- and he supports efforts to reform state law that prohibits collective bargaining over the issue.

MEA Votes recently asked Bernero questions about outsourcing. Here are his answers:

The economic impact of a decision by the Southfield school district to fire hundreds of employees and hire out-of-state contractors to do their work instead could total $31 million.

Using widely accepted economic principles, MEA economist Ruth Beier analyzed the impact of the district's decision to privatize the jobs of custodians, maintenance and transportation workers. For every $1 not earned by a former Southfield worker, the economic impact could be $2.20 or more, Beier found.

The reality in Southfield is tough for many former district employees.

Do you know what outsourcing is?

Outsourcing is when an organization transfers the ownership of a business process to another service provider. The word transfer in the definition is what makes outsourcing problematic — the buyer does not instruct the service provider on how to perform the task, but focuses on communicating what results it wants.