Battle over public employees rocks Orange County

[n2doc]

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Billy Folsom moved to this sun-drenched mecca decades ago, raised four kids and loved his work as a city mechanic who kept police and city vehicles in top shape.

This year, after 30 years on the job, Folsom, 59, said his thanks came in the form of a pink slip.

He was one of nearly half of the city's 450 employees who were served with notices saying they would be laid off on Sept. 15.

The layoffs are the result of a campaign by two newly elected conservative members of the City Council who vowed to get budget-crunched city finances into shape. Their plan: sweeping cost-cutting measures that called for outsourcing dozens of jobs, laying off firefighters, mechanics, gardeners, street cleaners and graffiti abatement workers.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/02/MNRD1KUVU5.DTL

[rurallib]

1. does outsourcing really save money?

Has there ever been a definitive study?
My experience tells me it either costs dramatically more or the quality is dramatically less.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Sometimes, it is very situational

[WhiteTara]

4. No. It leads to cronyism and it

"costs dramatically more or the quality is dramatically less"..or both.

[Starry Messenger]

2. k&r