Posted on April 29, 2015 by AdminUN

NTEU’S JUNK YARD DOGS DIG UP EVEN MORE CBP MILLIONS

Less than four months ago we wrote about how FLRA had upheld an arbitrator’s decisions awarding what likely will be over $100 million in back pay to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers because management violated the law about how to schedule employees.  Well, FLRA just upheld another NTEU arbitration victory that orders back pay as far back at the late 90’s and that is likely to generate just as much money.  This case proves so many things about how an agency should not operate a labor relations program, but before we get to those lessons learned, let’s review what happened. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 26, 2015 by AdminUN

WHAT’S NEXT FOR NTEU—AND YOU?

There are two reasons why NTEU might have a big impact on your union soon.  First, it is about to install a new national leadership after 16 years under the current one. New leaders often mean substantial changes. In fact, if new leaders do not try new things the organization usually deteriorates because the policies and perspectives of the past almost always lose their effectiveness with time.   Second, unlike all the AFL-CIO affiliated unions that are prohibited from raiding one another, as an independent union NTEU is free to raid wherever it likes—and with over $40 million in the bank it has the cash to do it. So, we thought we would share with you the brainstorming we have been doing about the options NTEU has for its future—and yours. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 26, 2015 by AdminUN

UNDERSTANDING CATEGORY RATING SYSTEMS

As we have said before, category rating is brimming with opportunities for agency HR and managers to abuse the process.  There are very few rules, and MSPB has consistently looked the other way so that there is no public hard data about just what agencies are doing. For those unfamiliar with Category Rating, it replaces ranking candidates by their numerical score in favor of putting them in one of two broadly defined qualification categories.  Once they are placed, management has the ability to select anyone in the category, although veterans in the category usually must be considered before others in the category.  Consequently, an applicant who might have otherwise been rated ten points below other candidates can get selected over them because there are no numerical scores. Given MSPB’s cowering, it falls to unions to challenge category rating selections when their members are passed over.  OPM has posted some information about the concept in its archives. The FedSoup people also have a decent explanation of what category rating is about. And the law firm of Passman & Kaplan have posted material which could help union reps. But before you put together a plan, be sure to read a journal article published by Xavier University  that looks beyond all the OPM PR blather about how great this is to reveal its fundamental flaws. Here are some things we would build into our plan: Continue reading →

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Posted on April 23, 2015 by AdminUN

ASPERGER’S SYNDROME, THE INABILITY TO INTERACT WITH OTHERS & ADA       

Some of us are shy, some are introverts, some of us have Asperger’s Syndrome and some of us have other conditions interfering with our ability to interact with others in what our TV-conditioned culture considers to be normal.  What happens when a member suffers this problem and it interferes with his/her work?  Maybe they get left out of informal groups or clicks that influence many workplace decisions, maybe they find it hard to get co-workers to cooperate with them, maybe they have serious problems when placed in high conflict situations or maybe their manager just not have a “good feeling” about their “meet and deal” skills leading to low evaluations. Although there is not a lot of case law behind this yet, the Americans With Disabilities Act, as amended, is slowly providing some help.  We ran across a thoughtful article from a law firm recently that gives a quick review of developments that might help you help a member someday.  Check it out.  We touched on the issue ourselves a few months ago.

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Posted on April 20, 2015 by AdminUN

WHEN PERFORMANCE AWARDS ARE DISCRETIONARY

What’s a union to do when management distributes cash performance awards as it sees fit without any negotiated formal criteria?  A lot, even if the FSIP said the agency could do it that way. The agency still must comply with all relevant the laws and regulations–and there are several a union could use to make the agency regret insisting on total discretion. We have covered some in previous posts concerning disparate impact claims. So, let’s look at some others by describing what it would look like if managers had complete discretion.  Continue reading →

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Posted on April 19, 2015 by AdminUN

UNION STAFF AS OFFICER CANDIDATES

We were surprised by a reaction to a recent FEDSMILL posting noting that union staff or employees can run for national union office. So we thought we would do a quick review of the law and activity in this area by touching on four things to know about this.  First, it is up to the union’s convention body to determine whether to allow paid union staff members, who have never worked in a bargaining unit represented by the union, to be members of the union. AFGE, NAGE and NTEU clearly allow hired staff without any federal employee experience to become members.  NATCA, on the other hand, limits membership only to those who have been Air Traffic Controllers or in another aviation safety occupation represented by the union. Second, Continue reading →

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Posted on April 19, 2015 by AdminUN

WHICH BATHROOM FOR TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES?

Here are the facts. Tamara Lusardi was working for the Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  As a known transgender employee, the agency forced her to only use a single-use restroom. When it was out of order and she used the women’s room, she was repeatedly confronted by a supervisor and was often referred to by her former male name and with male pronouns. She filed a complaint with the U.S. Special Counsel and EEOC. Here is what happened. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 17, 2015 by AdminUN

WHAT UNIONS DO WITH RETIREES, FORMER FEDS, & STAFF MEMBERS

Individual federal sector unions have done different things with those who have retired from or otherwise left the federal government—or anyone else allowed to join who is not an active federal employee in the bargaining unit, e.g., union staff, unit employees moved into management, members-at-large, etc. So, it is worth asking if any of the different approaches makes sense, and, if so, does one approach seem particularly wise. This posting will look at the role these folks can play in AFGE, NAGE, NATCA, NFFE, and NTEU, particularly in regards to dues, holding elected office, receiving communications, participating in benefit programs, special programs for them, and how they can help the union. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 17, 2015 by AdminUN

THE ADA AND TELEWORK

A federal circuit court just issued a decision undercutting the right of employees to ask for telework as a “reasonable accommodation” for a disability.  But it is not as bad for disabled employees as a lot of the management newsletters say it is, especially if their union does the right things. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 14, 2015 by AdminUN

20+ FLRA PRECEDENTS UNION NEGOTIATORS MUST KNOW

Collective bargaining is like a tennis match.  The two players repeatedly fire the ball at one another hoping to force a mistake, get an advantage, or just tire the other out.  Furthermore, the strategy changes the deeper and deeper you get into the game, e.g., from the serve, to the return, to drawing an opponent to the net, to pushing her to the line, to catching him in a corner, etc.  The experienced competitor knows that a game is composed of these many different stages-whether we are talking about tennis or collective bargaining; the novice needs to learn them quickly or move to the sidelines and just watch. Continue reading →

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