When we fight, we win. That was the theme of the last International Union convention. It was also a rallying cry for Rhode Island AFSCME members recently when they successfully stopped the privatization of dietary and housekeeping services at the Eleanor Slater Hospital and the Rhode Island Veteran’s Home.

The Rhode Island General Assembly voted to override Governor Donald Carcieri’s veto of a budget amendment to limit the State’s ability to sell off services to the lowest bidder. AFSCME RI Council 94 members led a full-court press of television ads, email, faxes, and face-to-face lobbying to win support for the anti-privatization measure.

While this was an important victory, Council 94’s President J. Michael Downey pointed out that it is part of a longer battle.

As Governor Carcieri picks out his next state service to privatize, one thing is for sure – Rhode Island AFSCME members will be there to stand up and fight back.

Custodians at the 10 campuses of the University of California (UC) scored a major victory in their fight for better wages and to put an end to the outsourcing of groundskeepers. UC and AFSCME Local 3299 members reached a settlement that mandates wage increases for all UC custodians and allows the replaced groundskeepers to be brought on as full UC employees effective July 1, 2007.

The agreement was based on the recommendations of former state Senate Pres. Pro Tem John Burton, who mediated between both parties. The 18-month struggle was backed by high-profile boycotts of UC campuses by former President Bill Clinton, presidential candidate John Edwards, and actor/activist Danny Glover and also included boisterous student protests.

Rhode Island Council 94 has taken to the airwaves to preserve public services provided by its 10,000 members, some of whom work as dietary and housekeeping employees at a state hospital and a veterans’ home.

Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri’s (R) proposed 2008 budget would outsource those services at the Eleanor Slater Hospital in Cranston and the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol.

Council 94 knows the nation’s veterans deserve better care than to receive services from a for-profit employer whose main concern is the bottom line. That’s why the council is fighting back with a media campaign. Watch their television ads below or at these links on YouTube: “Family” and “Taking On Privatization”.

Read more about Council 94’s ad campaign on Working Rhode Island’s site.