MEA Votes

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.