While Haslam has repeatedly urged critics of his plan to remain calm and denied any decisions have been made, WSMV Channel 5 News in Nashville discovered a pre-existing, accelerated timetable for implementation of the expected contract. Haslam evidently wants to have completed the outsourcing scheme as soon as summer of 2016.

“It looks like his mind was made up all along to sell our jobs and our public services to the lowest bidding corporation as fast as he could,” said Tom Anderson, a purchaser in UT’s Facilities Services department and whose job is part of the purview of Haslam’s effort.

United Campus Workers, the union of employees who work on Tennessee’s higher education campuses, exposed the Haslam plan to the media after a Request for Information (RFI) was released on August 11. Prior to that, there had been no public knowledge, input, or oversight of the program, which if implemented would represent the most significant reorganization of state services in decades. As the story broke, it was revealed Haslam was giving personally guided tours of state parks—which he is also attempting to privatize—to interested corporations.

Demonstrators hope to call attention to Haslam’s potential personal stake in outsourcing by locating part of their protest in front of Pilot Gas Station, the Haslam family business. Indeed two years ago, Haslam was embroiled in a scandal for his previous outsourcing push in state buildings when a no-bid contract was awarded to multinational giant JLL, in which the Governor was personally invested. Haslam is the country’s wealthiest elected politician.

“And we’re the ones who are going to lose if this happens,” worried Josh Smyser, a custodian at the university and a member of the Employees Relations Council there. “I could lose my pay, my benefits, everything, all so that some major corporation can make a profit at the taxpayer’s expense.”

Haslam, whose personal fortune tops one billion dollars, has cited his previous outsourcing efforts’ success in generating savings of some $5 million a year, but those savings average to roughly $0.75 per Tennessean—who pay the highest sales tax, including on food, in the country in a state where business taxes are among the nation’s lowest—all at the expense of people’s jobs and livelihoods.

Elizabeth Owen, a clerical worker at UT and vice-president of UCW’s Knoxville chapter, wondered: “When’s it going to stop? This is a race to the bottom for workers, all while the people on top—folks like Haslam—continue to make more money than they have ever before in history. These are our lives we’re talking about.” ###

For more information:
Tom Anderson, 865-934-7373 | Josh Smyser, 865-964-2996
Cassie Watters, UCW organizer, 617-304-1108

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While the Governor, who was recently named the country’s richest politician, bragged about Tennessee’s designation as “State of the Year” in economic development and job creation, he failed to mention that in the same period it also became the state with the highest rate of minimum wage jobs in the country. Many of these added jobs are only temporary and lack benefits.

“We need an economy that puts the people of Tennessee first, and that includes jobs that pay a living wage and have good benefits, not low wage jobs with no stability,” said Susan Williams, department secretary at the University of Tennessee Knoxville/UTK.

The Governor’s speech included proposed changes to benefits for many state workers, including the longevity bonus which compensates loyal public servants based on years of service. Though it does not yet include higher education employees, many are still concerned that the cuts won't stop there. “I have serious concerns about Haslam’s proposal to eliminate the longevity bonus, folding half of it into base pay and using the rest for merit raises,” said Tom Anderson, a Facilities Services employee at UTK. “I’ve come to expect and rely on that benefit and not for vacations and fluff. Over the years it has paid for doctor and dentists visits, and car and home repairs that would otherwise have been impossible for me to afford. That it’s being gutted is very alarming.”

Proposals to expand access to higher education for Tennesseans were meanwhile applauded, though questions about implementation remain unanswered.

“Like Governor Haslam, we believe that education is key both to economic development and to a functioning democracy. We also think everyone in our state should be able to go to college for free,” said Gabe Crowell, Adjunct, Pellissippi and Roane State Community Colleges." Adequate funding is crucial to achieve these goals. Increasingly, Tennessee relies on low-wage jobs in our public higher education system. We’ve got people on campuses making poverty wages, including folks teaching our students. That’s got to change, and the Governor can change it.”

We invite media to https://www.facebook.com/unitedcampusworkers, where campus workers will be posting what their longevity pay means to them with #HandsOffMyLongevity.
 

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Members available to be interviewed - For more information, please contact:

Cassie Watters, United Campus Workers, 877-292-3865