Posted on January 21, 2016 by AdminUN

WHAT IS A COBURN GORE 12-6/8?

We had never heard of it either, but it is proof of the value of creative local leader input for solving national union problems. The problem was in Coburn Gore, Maine, which is right near the towns of Jackman, St.Aurlelie, St. Juste, St. Pamphile, and St. Zacharie. Each is a very remote outpost of the Homeland Security (DHS) effort to keep the nation safe from unwanted visitors and goods coming across the Canadian border. Given the need to put Customs and Border Patrol Officers there around the clock seven days a week, the local leaders of the union chapter, who we know as a very talented and creative bunch, proposed a Compressed Work Schedule that might be useful a lot of places in their own agency as well as outside. Here is how it works. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 18, 2016 by AdminUN

FMLA QUIZ: WHO IS RIGHT AND WHO IS NOT?

Here are the facts of a 2015 MSPB decision in an adverse action suspension case. See if you remember the right answer. The employee left the office the morning of September 5 due to debilitating stomach cramps, making it to his car with the help of some of his colleagues and then driving far enough to get off post, where he parked until his cramping subsided. He then drove the short distance remaining to his home, where he went straight into a dark room he uses when he has a strong migraine and collapsed. Two days later he notified his supervisor that he left the office unannounced due to an urgent health need on September 5 and requested intermittent FMLA leave on an emergency basis to cover the absence. He also asked that the absence be compensated via a request for advance credit hours. The supervisor refused to approve the request for advance credit hours and charged him with AWOL because he failed to request and receive leave approval before departing the office on September 5, as required by the agency’s leave instruction The two-day delay was unacceptable. The agency maintained that, because the appellant was able to drive himself home and to call his daughter, he was therefore able to give notice before he left the office that morning and, because he did not do so, he was AWOL. It then suspended him for 30 days. Do you believe the suspension should be upheld or overturned? Continue reading →

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Posted on January 18, 2016 by AdminUN

THE DARK SIDE OF TELECOMMUTING

While negotiators on both sides of the bargaining table deserve credit for integrating telecommuting into the work place Inc. magazine just did a very good job of highlighting the negative impact of those were denied telecommuting. It is a topic we have never seen labor or management negotiators focus on in their contract and MOUs, but it seems like something we should be paying attention to. Check out, “The Dark Side of Telecommuting To The Office.”

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Posted on January 18, 2016 by AdminUN

CONGRATS ON 2015 MEMBERSHIP GROWTH GOES TO…

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE), the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) and the National Labor Relations Board Union (NLRBU). We looked over the fiscal year 2015 LM reports filed so far by all national unions representing large numbers of federal employees to compare this year’s membership count to last year’s. These three showed that even when federal employment is dropping quickly a well-conceived membership plan will pay off. SF-1187 signing incentives of $100.00 or more, cultural accountability for those local leaders who chronically fail to generate new members, computer-assisted demographical analyses of individual locals to identify how to energize support group-by-group, national strategic plans, etc. are all well-known ingredients. In fact, if a union does not have three out of the four and a good substitute for the missing one then it need look no further for the cause of its problems.

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Posted on January 11, 2016 by AdminUN

UNIONS THROW OPEN THEIR BOOKS FOR PUBLIC REVIEW

Once a year unions post to the Internet details about how they spent members’ money during their last fiscal year. Generally, these details are not even shared with the national executive board during the year and we know of no unions that go out of their way to mail their Board members copies before the reports are posted for the world to see. Some might consider that a lack of common courtesy while others will see it for an indication that the national officers do not hold Board members in high regard, e.g., the less they know the better. Board members often have to go find the information just like any other web surfer out there. So, as union reports for fiscal year 2015 are becoming available for scrutiny, we thought we would share with all interested readers what to look for when paging through these revelations. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 11, 2016 by AdminUN

DEBT COLLECTION ACT REMEDIES & ATTORNEY FEES

There have been a series of decisions recently highlighting those issues for which the Back Pay Act (BPA) remedies of interest and attorney fees do not apply. Few are any clearer than the Contract Board of Civilian Appeals (CBCA) decision ruling that BPA remedies are not available when a government agency reimburses an employee for a debt improperly collected under the Debt Collection Act (DCA). The employee in that case had been reimbursed by his agency for a debt it collected under procedurally incorrect rules. When he asked for interest on the reimbursement under the Back Pay Act, the CBCA traced the relationship between the DCA and BPA and concluded that the BPA does not apply when employees receive reimbursements on improperly collected debts to the agency. Consequently, none of the BPA remedies, such as interest or attorney fees, are available in those situations. (See In the Matter of JEFFREY E. KOONTZ, Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, No. 3436-TRAV (July 23, 2013)) Continue reading →

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Posted on January 11, 2016 by AdminUN

NEWEST IRS-NTEU TERM AGREEMENT NOW AVAILABLE ON-LINE

One of the federal sector’s bellwether agreements has been renegotiated, implemented and put out there for other units to review. Those of you entering your own term negotiations might want to look it over to see what you can use and what might be used against you. The new agreement can be found here and the prior one is still available by clicking the menu button above labeled. The biggest changes appear to be in the Official Time and Awards articles. The agreement is a classic example of a dilemma many bargaining parties face today. With 253 pages of negotiated rules it will be a challenge to make employees and managers aware of what is in the agreement. The odds are that only a very small handful of committed activists on either side of the table will read it completely and have a good command over how to use it. With the arrival of these mega-agreements, contract familiarization, if not training of everyone who will operate under it has become a major challenge—and we are not just talking about training stewards and LMR specialists. The agreement has a good index and its on-line status makes it easy to word search, e.g., the word “priority” appears 76 times in this agreement. But neither is enough to truly empower employees and managers.

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Posted on December 22, 2015 by AdminUN

STORIES COMING AFTER THE HOLIDAYS

Against our better judgment we have decided to give in to staff demands for time off during the holidays. We probably could have coerced the Marketing, PR, IT, News, Editorial and Admin staffs into staying, but HR, Legal, Security, and Legislation seemed intent on walking out. They apparently believe that just because we have posted 600 pieces since starting FEDSMILL.com in September 2011 (and having articles read nearly 2,000 times in one, recent, three day period) that they deserve a day off. So, we are shutting down until early January. Soon after we come back we hope to roll out some very meaty postings, such as– Continue reading →

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Posted on December 16, 2015 by AdminUN

THE FLSA GRIEVANCE REMEDY PERIOD

Not long ago we wrote about the very substantial difference between the time period in which a grievance must be filed once learning of a violation and how far back in the past an arbitrator can order the remedy be provided. (See LMR Russian Roulette) For example, if a union knew as early as January 1, 2008 that an agency was doing something it did not like, but did not find a statutory, regulatory or contractual obligation it could enforce through a grievance until January 1, 2014, how far back in the past can the arbitrator order the error corrected, with back pay if necessary, if the grievance was filed on January 15, 2014? Continue reading →

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Posted on December 16, 2015 by AdminUN

WHEN SHOULD UNIONS NEGOTIATE OVER GOVERNMENT-WIDE REG CHANGES?

Assume that your contract or some MOU includes a provision that limits the Best Qualified list in a promotion action to the top four rated candidates for a single vacancy. Then imagine that with three years left before the parties can renegotiate that clause OPM implements the following government-wide rule, “Selection procedures will provide for management’s right to select or not select from among a group of best qualified candidates, and the BQ list must contain at least the top six candidates for the first vacancy as determined by their promotion ranking scores.” Obviously, a non-negotiable change in its contract is coming for the union and just as obviously it has the right to negotiate over the impact and implementation of the change. But whether the agency must complete those negotiations before implementing the change depends on when the union invokes bargaining. For example, … Continue reading →

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