More Reasons to Vote Against Proposition D

City strikes deal with unions to allow outside bids

. . . or so states the newspaper headline. At first, it sounds like the city council is working to keep its promises to get Proposition D, but read the fine print, as pointed out by Carl DeMaio. Although the outside bidders do not have to provide health care benefits, as previously demanded by the city's unions, two other factors make a mockery of this process:

City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who opposes Proposition D, said the managed competition guide is a watered-down version of what Sanders proposed last year and creates several opportunities for the council to avoid outsourcing city jobs, such as not requiring the city to accept the lowest bid. He also noted that, in addition to their 10 percent advantage, city workers don’t include annual pension costs in their bids — one of the most significant expenses in each department’s budget.

The 10 percent advantage is a provision that the winning bidder must be 10% less expensive than the city. Unfortunately, I don't care if they are slightly more expensive, if we could offload pension and health care obligations for city workers.

The deal isn't done either, city union members have to approve the negotiated process for outsourcing. Hard to predict how that vote will go. Taking the pensions out of the calculation gives them a significant advantage, but who knows, their salary structure still might be too high to withstand competition.

Until we see actual outsourcing, we should not be voting for tax increases.