Author Archives: AdminUN

About AdminUN

FEDSMILL staff has over 40 years of federal sector labor relations experience on the union as well as management side of the table and even some time as a neutral.

MSPB EXPANDS ACCUSED EMPLOYEE’S RIGHT TO INFORMATION A Homeland Security Agent was fired for falsifying an official form.  When he tried to defend himself by pointing out how supervisory employees who committed the same offense were not fired, DHS management … Continue reading

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HOW TO CHALLENGE FURLOUGH PROPOSALS Thousands of feds are facing notices of proposed furloughs and the dilemma of whether or not to challenge them via the oral/written reply process or beyond.   A challenge is more likely to pay off than … Continue reading

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DIRECTED REASSIGNMENT CASE LAW OVERHAULED Agencies have the right to terminate an employee who refuses an order to reassign, but only so long as the agency has a bona fide need for the employee to be located elsewhere.  Or at … Continue reading

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COMPENSATION INCREASES UNIONS CAN BARGAIN (Pt. 2) There are around two dozen ways unions can negotiate to put extra cash in members’ pockets.  In Part 1 of this two-part posting we covered 12 of them.  Now for some others, some … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining, Bargaining Negotiability, Compensation | Tagged | 2 Comments

IS PUNCTUALITY AN ESSENTIAL JOB ELEMENT? Most people think so, but now a federal circuit court has raised the possibility that it might not be in every case. For generations employers have fired employees for failing to report to work … Continue reading

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100,000 NEW UNION MEMBERS That is how much AFGE’s total membership increased between January 2001 and January 2013. It just reported to the Department of Labor that it has a total of 299,642 members. Congrats to them for all the … Continue reading

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COMPENSATION INCREASES UNIONS CAN BARGAIN(Pt.1) There are over two dozen ways unions can negotiate to put extra cash in members’ pockets. That is great news for employees during these times of wage freezes and yet another reason they should support … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining, Bargaining Negotiability, Compensation | Tagged , | 2 Comments

SEQUESTER BARGAINING STRATEGY Once management announces that a furlough is reasonably foreseeable (or any impact on unit employees is likely from sequester), the union has a right to bargain. We already shared our thoughts on some proposals to make in … Continue reading

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BARGAINING FOR BACK PAY Generally, there is only one way to get back pay. You have to file a grievance, charge or some other allegation against management and, absent settlement, get an authorized neutral, such as an arbitrator, to order … Continue reading

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ON-LINE TRAINING IN TRAVEL REGS If your local has numerous disputes over travel, per diem, and other reimbursement matters, you might want to sign up for the on-line training course GSA offers in the Federal Travel Regs that you can … Continue reading

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