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As Mr. McLay's paper so vividly accounts, we need accountability in the workplace. Not the pass-it-down attitude where the lowest worker on the totem pole gets the shaft. We don't need privatization to hold people accountable, be they the civil service employees, supervisors, managers, division and department heads, or elected officials. Government reform has gotten sidetracked. Too many perceive privatization as acure-all It appears to make sense to open government services to competitive bidding, to let mazket forces weed out inefficiencies. The problem is the equation ignores people. People aze what we should be focused on. The key question is how to motivate the people from the top all the way to the bottom to ensure the public gets what it wants with quality and accountability. Before we go outside and privatize, we need to look at compazable data, on the successes and failures of privatization. Why aze some private companies successful and others not? Why has privatization failed in so many locales in our nation? You will find long term success and profitability in companies because they have a vision -they adapt to"change -they treat their workers as valuable assets not expendable parts. That's the lesson we have learned from the private sector. The wrong lesson is to contract out to private companies that treat workers as liabilities who have nothing to offer but their labor. What is dignity of work? What is the price of labor? Government services can't improve if front-line workers have no stake in the service delivery. We can reinvent government by empowering workers, all we need to do is look to the lessons learned from our neighbors in Japan and to private companies thoughtout the world. How does my union view privatizing public services - we see less accountability and loyalty. Sincerely, f`--~ Richard Onishi HGEA, Unit 13 Chair