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<font bgcolor="#FFFFFF" color="#990000"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="6"><b><font color="#000000">Bush
Labor Department misled Congress in effort to privatize jobs</font></b></font><strong><br>
John Byrne<br>
</strong><font color="#990000"
face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><font
color="#000000" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="1">Published:
Tuesday November 25, 2008<br>
<br>
<big><big><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_Labor_Department_misled_Congress_in_1125.html">http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_Labor_Department_misled_Congress_in_1125.html</a><br>
<br>
</big></big></font></font>President George W. Bush's Labor Department
misled Congress in an
effort to prove outsourcing jobs to private companies was more
efficient than assigning the jobs to government employees, according to
a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.<br>
<br>
The report (<a linkindex="8"
href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0914.pdf"><font color="blue">pdf
here</font></a>)
found that the Department used fictional projected numbers to improve
"savings reports" -- even when real numbers were already available. And
when the government did find private firms to take a government job,
that employee generally was either reassigned to another task with the
same title or promoted.<br>
<br>
The effort was called "competitive sourcing," aimed to increase
government efficiency by having federal and private organizations
compete for providing services. While part of a federal government
approach since 1955, the Bush Administration has made the approach a
key element of the President's Management Agenda under the Office of
Management and Budget.<br>
<br>
An investigation revealed, however, that the Labor Department -- under
direction from Bush budget officials -- deliberately withheld
information about true costs.<br>
<br>
According to the report, the Department of Labor "excluded a number of
substantial costs in its reports to Congress -- such as the costs for
precompetition planning, certain transition costs and staff time and
post competition review activities -- thereby understanding the full
costs of this contracting approach." <br>
<br>
The report noted that this approach was consistent with "guidance"
given by the Administration's Office of Management and Budget.<br>
<br>
In addition, the report found the Department's "savings reports" were
"not reliable: a sample of three reports contained inaccuracies, and
others used projections when actual numbers were available, which
sometimes resulted in overstated savings."<br>
<br>
Most workers were also demoralized as the government tried to find
private firms to take over their jobs, the probe found. <br>
<br>
Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao began having workers compete for their
jobs in 2004. Few employees have lost their jobs. But when the
government found a private company to take over their position, 84
percent were reassigned to different positions with the same title or
were promoted.<br>
<br>
Since implementation, 22 employees were laid off or demoted, all of
them African American.<br>
<br>
The senator who commissioned the report, Iowa's Tom Harkin, along with
the House committee that oversees the Labor Department, David Obey,
said in a letter Monday that the report proved "the negative impact the
Bush Administration's failed policies have had" on the Department.<br>
<br>
"Under the direction of this White House, the Department of Labor has
increasingly attempted to move work performed by Federal employees to
private contractors" and, in so doing, hurt workers' morale and
"grossly overstated savings," <a linkindex="8"
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402796_pf.html"><blue>they
wrote</blue></a>.
"We look forward to working with the Obama Administration to strengthen
the Department of Labor as it undertakes the critical missions of
making sure our workplaces are safe; protecting employee pensions,
health benefits and rights; and providing workers with the skills they
need to compete successfully in the 21st century economy."<br>
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