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.

OVER AT AFGE, WOW! I was talking with two long-time AFGE national staff leaders last week about the state of federal labor relations when I remembered how that union had the classiest training program for local leaders when I broke … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining | Tagged | 1 Comment

A CASE OF OLD-FASHION EEO REPRISAL I like to think that knuckle-dragging managers are fewer and fewer these days, but then a case like this comes along.  A Navy employee, Cory, was upset about being passed over for promotion and … Continue reading

Posted in Retaliation | Tagged | 2 Comments

CBP MANAGEMENT AGAIN SHOOTS WILDLY FROM THE HIP  While bargaining unit Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers must meet a very high standard for firearm accuracy, my more than 40 years of experience with CBP demonstrated that CBP managers often … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Disabilities | Tagged | Leave a comment

WHAT TO DO WHEN MANAGEMENT MOVES TOO SLOWLY? What would you do if an employee came to you as her union rep to complain that it took three weeks for the agency to act on her complainant about a manager … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Discrimination | Tagged | Leave a comment

AND THIS IS WHY YOU NEED UNIONS At some point after the new White House Lord of the Manor arrived in 2017 word came down to the VA that some unnamed folks in the chain-of-command wanted to look tough on … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Law, FLRA | Tagged | 1 Comment

THE “DESIRED POSITION” YIELDS 13 YEARS OF BACK PAY Amanda was reassigned to a position that she was not able to do as a result of her disability. When she asked for a reasonable accommodation, the agency merely pointed to … Continue reading

Posted in EEO/Disabilities, EEO/Discrimination | Tagged | Leave a comment

LOOK WHO WANTS TO SLIT YOUR THROAT After you have read the news story we have linked to here, remember that federal employees have regularly rescued his state from multiple hurricanes, bring over a billion dollars of revenue annually into … Continue reading

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HOW TO ADD CLOUT TO YOUR GRIEVANCE Wouldn’t you love to make a grievance twice as worrisome for management and give the grievant the chance to get a much bigger payoff than a simple allegation of a contract violation? Well, … Continue reading

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | 2 Comments

WHAT THE “H” “E” DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS THIS FLRA? The Authority just dismissed a union’s claim that management had unilaterally implemented a change and, in the process, jumbled 40 years of labor law precedent. I am talking about the case … Continue reading

Posted in FLRA | Tagged | 7 Comments

CONGRATS TO NFFE FOR ORGANIZING YELLOWSTONE Everyone is out there trying to convince unorganized workers to join their union.  In the federal sector, some unions have directors of organizing with budgets, organizing staff, and IT support–and still do not succeed.  … Continue reading

Posted in Organizing | Tagged | Leave a comment