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.

WE STAND CORRECTED; CONGRATS NFFE! No sooner had we posted the story about AFGE reporting 18 consecutive years of membership growth and concluded that they outdid everyone else then we learned that NFFE rocked the federal sector labor community by … Continue reading

Posted in Membership Building | Tagged | Leave a comment

A MINISTER, A MULLAH AND A MOHEL… simultaneously report to the Herring Brook District Office of a federal agency for their first day of work. They were each hired as Customer Service Representatives for the agency.  The Mullah and the … Continue reading

Posted in Equal Pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

SAY “THANKS, BUT NO THANKS” TO BACK PAY FROM FSIP OR INTEREST ARBITRATORS Few things make a union negotiator and members as happy as a Panel order that makes a pay increase retroactive. A fistful of cash relieves a lot … Continue reading

Posted in Back Pay, FSIP | Tagged | Leave a comment

THE AMAZING AFGE While there are things that AFGE could do better, it is hard to imagine it or any other federal employee union doing a better job at building membership year after year. In fact, we can’t find another … Continue reading

Posted in AFGE, Membership Building | Tagged | 1 Comment

DON’T STOP READING WITH THIS FMLA/ADA HEADLINE The Supreme Court just decided to not overturn a 7th Circuit decision that held a disabled employee was not entitled to additional leave once his/her FMLA leave ran out. The typical story headline reporting … Continue reading

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

NEGOTIATORS, DON’T MAKE THIS MANAGER’S MISTAKE Here are the facts. The union asked to negotiate over a proposed agency mid-term change.  The parties met a few times to negotiate over the topic and the management rep let the union know … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining | Leave a comment

GRIEVANCE QUIZ: ALMOST PERFECT EXCEPT FOR … Below is a hypothetical grievance inspired by one that actually went to arbitration and FLRA. The union lost on a technicality in both forums. See if you can spot the error before we … Continue reading

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$300,000 FOR A DENIED REASSIGNMENT Employees almost never have the right to demand a reassignment to a different supervisor, job or location.  But if the employee has a disabling condition for which a reassignment would be a reasonable accommodation, the … Continue reading

Posted in Reasonable Accommodations, Reassignments | Tagged | Leave a comment

HOW TO AVOID THE “EXCESSIVE INTERFERENCE LITE” TRAP Now that Trump’s two operatives on the FLRA have made clear their intention to weaken unions and collective bargaining, unions would be wise to counter the pending onslaught of precedent-trashing decisions from … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining, Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | Leave a comment

MADAME CHAIR, MEET MR. NEWTON Sir Isaac Newton that is. We are suggesting this hook-up because you and your fellow Trumpian traveler seem to have forgotten about his third law of motion, namely, that for every action there is an … Continue reading

Posted in Bargaining Law | Tagged | Leave a comment