HOW TO PROTECT A UNION STAFFER’S CAREER

AFGE seems to be the only federal sector union that values all its paid staff members (BU & NBU) enough to protect them from arbitrary and abusive treatment.  Consequently, union staffers themselves need to take action to install those protections over their ENTIRE careers, not just when in the bargaining unit, and a very effective way is through the staff’s union.  This post is about helping those unions-within-a-union do precisely that. It is time to restrain those union leaders who allegedly commit their lives proudly and bombastically to worker rights, but who hypocritically hoard the right to mistreat a handful of union employees just to flex their own ego, salve another bout of paranoia, advance some illegal or unethical activity, lash out when their delicate feelings are hurt, cover-up a serious mistake, etc.

One thing a staff union can do is to bargain for severance pay. Most union staffers who hold jobs outside the staff bargaining unit (BU) started in a BU job for that union,  Consequently, getting a contract right to a week of severance pay for every year of service with the union would at least soften the blow of an unannounced termination for someone who rose through the bargaining unit to an NBU job with the union.  For example, if an employee spent ten years in the bargaining unit before she took a  supervisory job in the union, she would at least be entitled to ten weeks of pay if a union boss stops by her office one day and tells her, “Get out.  You are fired and I don’t need to tell you why.”  That is a lot better than the long-time union staffer and her family losing its only paycheck and benefits at the end of the pay period. Negotiation details could touch on when an employee has a vested right to severance pay, whether it is paid as a lump sum or the employee is carried with full benefits for the length of her severance pay, and who administers that fund, etc.

Obviously, also giving ALL employees the right to progressive discipline, disciplinary due process, and binding “just cause” arbitration of any disciplinary actions is another option staff unions should consider. The union president may howl with objections that his/her right to abuse people is being clipped, but point them to all the protections the union constitution gives them from discipline.  (I will address some of those super elaborate due process protections top union bosses have in an upcoming post.)

But taking these and similar steps is tricky because the staff union cannot technically bargain to impasse to protect those outside its bargaining unit. So, I recommend the following:

1. Put the demand on the bargaining table.  If union management says it is non-negotiable for NBU people, point out the fairness and equity of the proposal.  (Check out these FEDSMILL posts for a review of those arguments: Why All Federal Employee Unions’ Top Leaders Are Hypocrites (5/23/23), Beware The Black And White Top Union Leader (5/30/23), When Union Presidents Send Gifts To Agencies (6/5/23), The Agony Of Termination, Nepo Babies And Paying It Forward (6/22/23), and The Actress Joan Crawford On Progressive Discipline (6/28/23)
2. If management is unmoved, make it clear that if management will not bargain to equally protect all union staff then the staff union will simply go to the national Executive Board or even to the locals to get the protection placed in the union constitution & bylaws.  I would not rule out the media either because of how blatantly hypocritical it is for union bosses to keep the right to punish a small group of employees without due process, appeal rights, or the basic disciplinary protections that the union insist federal agencies provide the union’s members. (Ironically, federal union leader are currently beating their chests with pride to highlight how hard they are working to block former president Trump’s Schedule F plans which would remove due process and appeal protections for thousands of federal employees.  Yet, these union leaders have given themselves the equivalent of Schedule F rights and more to recklessly terminate union NBU staffers.)
3. Don’t be reluctant to toss some alternatives on the table in case one of them magically appeals to union management.  (The same goes for discussions with the Executive Board or union convention delegates.) For example, bargain to give one-time bargaining unit staffers the right to be returned to their last BU job and salary should management insist on retaining the unilateral right to discipline NBU staffers.  It is not perfect, but it is better than most NBU union staffers have today.
4. Be ready to talk about how arbitrators are chosen for NBU discipline cases, which NBU disciplinary actions might be excluded from arbitration, how the cost of the hearing is split and capped, etc. Consider giving NBU folks the right to appeal to a sub-committee of the Executive Board if neutral arbitration is so distasteful to the union’s president.

Years ago society thought a man had certain rights over a woman once he married her that would have landed him is jail if he was not married. We now recognize that was a cruel, illegal and immoral way to look at the problem of abuse.  It is time that we demnd that top union leaders also accept some limits on their right to mistreat people. Local union leaders should join these staff union efforts because if an NBU staffer can be fired in the blink of an eye without severance orsomebenefit continuation the union’s top leader can force those unprotected staffer to do virtually anything to a local leader.