THE NEGOTIABILITY OF THE MUSK BUYOUT
If a co-worker decides to “take the public’s tax money and run” buyout opportunity that Czar Musk is offering, doesn’t that have an impact on the bargaining unit? And if it does have an impact on others, doesn’t that mean it all must be negotiated before the departing co-worker is allowed to race out the door? Yes and Yes.
If a co-worker leaves, it is most likely that someone will have to pick up the work assignments s/he left behind, e.g., the six beds in the VA hospital some Nurse covered, or the 500 telephone calls an IRS customer service rep took helping taxpayers through the maze Congress created, or the firefighter who maintained the pumper truck, or the Park Service employee who helped move tourists through the mile long lines waiting to get into the Park, or the SSA claims examiner who would have processed a dozen requests a day to start newly retired applicants benefits, or the Border Patrol Agent who lost her partner who covered her while she search border bushes in the dark, etc.
That will mean more work for someone, perhaps more required overtime, perhaps less approved vacation leave, perhaps a lowered performance appraisal when they can no longer meet the job standards that applied before they had to do the work of two, etc.
Unions should put in demands to bargain over the buyout scam right now. They should ask to bargain not just the procedures for rolling out the program, but also the impact on employees. The only way agencies can avoid imposing an adverse impact on employees who stay behind is if they promise to shelve the work the departing co-worker had. If agencies implement without waiting for bargaining to conclude, you might be able to get some whopper of a remedy. What’s stopping an arbitrator from ordering the agency to offer to rehire folks who were retired before bargaining concluded or maybe ordering that they be paid through to the date the union actually signed a deal—no matter how much after next October 1 it is.
And it goes without saying that every time a departure creates an adverse situation for the public, the union leaders should be contacting their Congressional Reps—or at least the ones not cowering in a corner lest they offend Elon. For example, when the two CBP officers who staff some remote post on the Maine-Canada border instantly retire and CBP has no choice but to shut the crossing down, give Senator Sue Collins a ring and see if she can do something. For real fun, when IRS announces that Musk retirements mean that 500 fewer of Majorie Taylor Green’s constituents will get help at the local office this filing season, let her constituents know through leafletting, press releases, etc.
