AFSCME secures anti-privatization win in Supreme Court case

AFSCME has long opposed the use of private prisons by government at every level. Our union has always stood for public services in the best interests of our communities, because privately-run, for-profit facilities are beholden only to a company’s shareholders.

This fact became painfully evident in a recent U.S. Supreme Court Case involving the country’s largest private prison contractor. 

When GEO Group, which operates 50 facilities with 60,000 beds across the country, recently tried to worm its way out of a lawsuit, it argued that all government contractors are immune from lawsuits. 

AFSCME filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court—a way for people or groups with an interest in a case to offer perspective to the court—arguing that the level of immunity GEO sought would make it and other government contractors—even state and local contractors—less accountable than the government itself. 

That would give elected officials a powerful incentive to privatize even more public services provided by AFSCME members, hurting working people and the communities we serve.

In the end, the Supreme Court rejected GEO Group’s sweeping claim. It was a victory for every public service worker whose job, livelihood, and community depend on keeping public work accountable to the public—not to corporate shareholders.