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CWA Fights for Jobs at GPO
Bill Boarman, CWA vice president for the Printing Sector, fought for hundreds of union jobs that could be lost through layoffs if the Bush administration succeeds in taking over the GPO’s $425 million procurement budget and the subcontracting of work to the private sector.
Testifying before a congressional committee July 10, Boarman pointed out that such action would cause additional work to be lost to small union printers who likely could not afford to compete in a decentralized bidding process.
But even more important, Boarman told the Joint Committee on Printing, the administration’s proposal from the Office of Management and Budget poses a threat to the public’s right to know, by curtailing the GPO’s function of storing federal publications, including online documents, in regional depositories where they are accessible to the public. Decentralizing procurement – allowing government agencies to manage their own printing and photocopying – would deprive the regional depositories of many important government documents.
Boarman suggested in an interview that suppression of information is central to President Bush’s homeland security program. And he pointed out to the Committee that Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a memo, advised federal agencies that “protecting sensitive business information” is a valid defense for stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests.
“In light of the unfolding Wall Street scandals and congressional interest in ferreting out wrongdoing by corporate executives, such instructions could understandably be interpreted as a license to withhold important information. That would certainly stymie the loud demands for justice that all of us are hearing today,” Boarman said.
CWA members account for 400 of 2,000 union-represented employees at the GPO, Boarman said.
Rather than split off GPO’s procurement function, Boarman proposed a modernization of the 141-year-old agency that would include changing its name to the “Government Information Office,” to reflect its recently acquired online responsibilities.
Testifying before a congressional committee July 10, Boarman pointed out that such action would cause additional work to be lost to small union printers who likely could not afford to compete in a decentralized bidding process.
But even more important, Boarman told the Joint Committee on Printing, the administration’s proposal from the Office of Management and Budget poses a threat to the public’s right to know, by curtailing the GPO’s function of storing federal publications, including online documents, in regional depositories where they are accessible to the public. Decentralizing procurement – allowing government agencies to manage their own printing and photocopying – would deprive the regional depositories of many important government documents.
Boarman suggested in an interview that suppression of information is central to President Bush’s homeland security program. And he pointed out to the Committee that Attorney General John Ashcroft, in a memo, advised federal agencies that “protecting sensitive business information” is a valid defense for stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests.
“In light of the unfolding Wall Street scandals and congressional interest in ferreting out wrongdoing by corporate executives, such instructions could understandably be interpreted as a license to withhold important information. That would certainly stymie the loud demands for justice that all of us are hearing today,” Boarman said.
CWA members account for 400 of 2,000 union-represented employees at the GPO, Boarman said.
Rather than split off GPO’s procurement function, Boarman proposed a modernization of the 141-year-old agency that would include changing its name to the “Government Information Office,” to reflect its recently acquired online responsibilities.