Anti-Privatization Initiative - Washington D.C.

In 1993, the District of Columbia passed an anti-privatization law. The law states that before a government service can be contracted out, the government must show it would save at least 10 percent of existing costs over the contract's duration. The private contractor must offer displaced employees comparable employment for six months at the prevailing wage. The city must also offer employees the chance to bid to do the work themselves. These stringent requirements have curbed privatization efforts in D.C. since passage of the law. Departing chief procurement officer, Elliot B. Branch says that in his tenure, he has submitted for council approval just one privatization contract, for ready-to-eat meals in D.C. public school cafeterias.

More:

• Washington, DC Home Page
• Council of the District of Columbia Home Page
• Reclaim Democracy! - is dedicated to restoring democratic authority over corporations, reviving grassroots democracy, and revoking the power of money and corporations to control government and civic society.
• Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy - activists who have spent the last several years researching corporate, labor and legal histories, rethinking our past organizing strategies and talking with people about democracy movements.
• The Corporations & Democracy Program of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) - direct and indirect support for grassroots efforts that attempt to reassert citizen sovereignty over the corporation. Specifically, CELDF attempts to support regional efforts to use corporate charter revocation statutes to convince state Attorneys General to prosecute corporations that have a consistent history of violating local, state, and federal environmental law. Another important part of the Program is assisting community groups and local governments with drafting local laws which assert democratic control over corporations.
• Alliance for Democracy - a progressive populist movement setting forth to end the domination of our economy, our government, our culture, our media and the environment by large corporations.