Thursday, July 22, 2010
Fairchild Air Force Base (U.S. Air Force photo-Airman 1st Class Natasha E. Stannard)
A union representing federal workers is trying to derail a U.S. Air Force pilot project that could lead to air bases across the country hiring private contractors to provide food services to military personnel.
Under the Food Transformation Initiative, the Air Force wants to hire non-federal workers to perform cooking and busboy duties at six bases: Elmendorf in Alaska; Travis in California, Patrick and MacDill in Florida, Fairchild in Washington state, and Little Rock in Arkansas.
But the American Federation of Government Employees has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office to stop the Air Force from moving forward with its plan.
Usually any federal operation that wants to contract out a service must file paperwork showing how the out-sourcing will save money for taxpayers. But the Air Force is trying to get around this requirement by claiming the positions are funded from the air bases’ individual budgets, not the larger one approved by Congress.
Union officials say this end-around maneuver means the Air Force is attempting to alter the definition of a federal employee.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Privatization Battle Centers on Definition of Federal Employee (by Robert Brodsky, Government Executive)
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