AFSCME Local 1624<\/a>\u00a0who keep Austin\u2019s IT services running\u00a0learned of the\u00a0consolidation\u00a0proposal\u00a0last November\u00a0and\u00a0quickly\u00a0organized the \u201cStop One\u00a0Austin Technology Services\u201d campaign.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nMembers and campaign leaders are holding one-on-one\u00a0meetings\u00a0with city workers and\u00a0Austin City Council\u00a0members, collecting hundreds of petition signatures, and demanding real numbers and a real plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For city workers like Braniff Davis,\u00a0a\u00a0Local 1624 member and\u00a0a senior\u00a0geospatial\u00a0analyst in the Austin Fire Wildfire Division, this consolidation\u00a0plan\u00a0poses major risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the halls of Austin\u2019s Fire Department, Davis is more than an IT specialist \u2014 he is a vital link in the city\u2019s emergency response chain. Davis provides real-time data and mapping to fire chiefs during a range of emergencies like explosions, fires, and floods.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an emergency, I am considered a duty officer. The city has no plan for ensuring public safety personnel are still equally equipped to do their job,\u201d Davis said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be on the ground, and I would be working under an IT supervisor with no public safety background.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Davis was hired by the team for his wildfire specialty\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a\u00a0constant\u00a0threat\u00a0in\u00a0Austin.\u00a0He\u00a0is on call\u00a0in\u00a0emergencies, but this plan could place an IT ticketing system between him and\u00a0rapid\u00a0response.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf\u00a0it works within the typical framework of our\u00a0city\u2019s\u00a0IT processes,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0going to make things slower and less efficient. Most importantly, it may cost property and lives,\u201d said Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The local supports finding\u00a0other ways to help the city save money.\u00a0Things like\u00a0consolidating\u00a0redundant software and hardware have been proposed. But\u00a0AFSCME members argue that\u00a0relocating\u00a0essential officers\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a long-term deficit solution\u00a0\u2014\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0an erosion to the city\u2019s public safety infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I was screaming into a void. The plan\u00a0left more questions than answers,\u00a0and\u00a0it was\u00a0moving quickly,\u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd\u00a0then my\u00a0union\u00a0reached out and gave me the platform to join my colleagues and raise my voice.\u00a0That power to push back and continue to protect the public has meant everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After\u00a0AFSCME members met with the\u00a0city\u00a0manager,\u00a0the city\u00a0made\u00a0a certain exception for occupational personnel<\/a>, but further information on who qualifies and what the exceptions are\u00a0is\u00a0unclear.\u00a0AFSCME members in Austin are continuing to get organized and fight for those answers\u00a0\u2014 and\u00a0use their power in a union to ensure that their community is well served and adequately resourced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0city of Austin, Texas,\u00a0is\u00a0pushing\u00a0a plan to\u00a0consolidate\u00a0almost 1,000\u00a0information technology (IT)\u00a0workers into one centralized building.\u00a0However, the\u00a0rushed\u00a0plan\u00a0has left\u00a0the\u00a0public with\u00a0many\u00a0questions,\u00a0along with raising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-357271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}