ANOTHER AMAZING AFGE ACCOMPLISHMENT
If your read Joe Davidson’s column in Washington Post on February 16th, you already know about AFGE’s latest achievement in Homeland Security. We know it is a blockbuster because we cannot think of the last time a union succeeded in getting an agency to reclassify thousands of positions so that the journey-level grade is raised from a GS-9 to a GS-12. That will not only increase their annual salaries, but their pensions, overtime pay, and tax-deferred saving potential. WOW! Position classifications are the toughest problem to solve. Law prohibits unions from grieving classification decisions, bargaining over them, or even going to court. In our experience, change like this only comes about because of persuasion and power, but we are sure it did not hurt that AFGE represents the great majority of DHS employees.