Posted on April 12, 2015 by AdminUN

HOW SHOULD UNIONS RUN THEIR INVESTMENT PROGRAMS?

The quick answer is, “Very carefully.” A slightly longer answer is, “The opposite of what Madoff was allowed to do.” The four biggest federal sector unions have reported over $50 million in investments to DOL.  NTEU leads the pack with $34 million, AFGE follows at $14 million, NFFE is next at $5 million while IFPTE and NATCA reported around 1.3 million. (NTEU’s edge is largely due to the recent sale of its headquarters building while AFGE has $48 million in fixed real estate assets from the building it owns. NTEU has less than 1% of AFGE’s fixed asset value.) Moreover, these are very actively managed funds.  AFGE, for example, reported over $11 million in net investment sales and over $9 million in net purchases last year on its $14 million total. Further complicating the risks of managing this money is that investment advisors and houses are not beyond sprinkling generous “perks” on the financial decision-makers to win their business or push them to a certain investment. Does anyone really think that they will not dangle “perks” to convince a union’s decision-maker to use them or to buy into one fund versus another?  One of the unions named above almost removed its national president because a vendor gave him furniture for his apartment.  Fortunately, that was decades ago. Given the political climate for federal employees and unions, it would only take one good financial scandal to get them all dragged across the coals of a Congressional committee for a roasting on any embarrassing expenditure as well as their stewardship of negotiated official time and other federal funds.  Congressman Issa’s eyes would roll back into his head as he slipped into a state of prolonged quivering ecstasy if he came across a union miscue he could exploit. So, we want to share our thoughts on the matter to get a few conversations going out there before the union convention season arrives this summer. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 12, 2015 by AdminUN

THANKS, VIC. WE WILL MISS YOU.

Please excuse the briefest of sentimental moments on our part. Vic Gotbaum died last week, ending his monumental stream of contributions to American labor unions, and we want to help folks remember what he accomplished.  Vic was a machine gunner in WW II, a towering peace advocate during the Viet Nam war, and by most measures he saved New York City.  After the war he got a master’s degree from Columbia, taught in a labor education program for union leaders in Chicago, and became President of New York’s AFSCME Council 37, growing it from 37,000 to over 110,000 members during his term. But as he said often, “From the beginning of my career as a labor leader, what I loved most were the negotiations.”  Some said watching him bargaining was like watching “a prizefighter” when management turned down his first few attempts to be reasonable. Others remember how quick-witted and sarcastic he was with government leaders overly impressed with themselves. We like to think it was his Brooklyn roots.  As a teenager he organized the African-American workers in his dad’s own plant to demand the same wages as white workers—and won. He later fought the established leadership of the AFL-CIO which backed the Viet Nam war, harassed those pushing for women’s rights, gave only token support for civil rights progress, never saw the value of labor always speaking first for the oppressed, and, in general, turned an entire generation of citizens off about unions, not to mention the growing number of immigrants.  But the battle he will be remembered for most was when NYC was on the brink of bankruptcy and the mayor demanded huge concessions from the city unions.  When other union leaders shut down the city’s bridges and encouraged lawlessness among citizens, he pulled the rug out from under them as well as concessions out of each of them.  Armed with that power he backed the Wall Street bankers into a corner where they coughed up money that the mayor and governor could not get out of them for the city. If you remember the financial catastrophe that George Bush left us in 2007, double that and you can understand what a gift Vic gave America in that single week. He also left professional negotiators a wonderful booked filled with his best bargaining war stories, namely, “Negotiating in the Real World.”

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Posted on April 9, 2015 by AdminUN

 FLRA’S POWERPOINTS & ULP LAW OUTLINES

We have never been shy about taking a shot at FLRA for its incredibly slow pace at processing cases.  All too often agency back pay liabilities have doubled just waiting for FLRA to uphold an arbitration or ALJ decision.  But they deserve strong compliments for the work they do helping train and update practitioners.  Just last month, the FLRA General Counsel updated the 100+ page on-line ULP CASE LAW OUTLINE.  We think it is great.  It is easy to read, well organized to help those searching for something, and will remind even the most seasoned practitioners of cases they long ago forgot about. The Authority also offers eight wonderful powerpoint presentations that are perfect for training new stewards. You can find the following on-line: Introduction to FLRA, Bargaining, Bypass, Meetings, Information, Discrimination, Interference and Union ULPs.

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Posted on April 8, 2015 by AdminUN

WHAT CHELIOTES JUST SHOWED ALL UNION LEADERS

Arthur Cheliotes is the President of Local 1180 of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).  It is an unusual union local because 1180 represents over 1,000 managers working for New York City.  The City’s labor law allows that. We want to recognize him for doing something not all leaders do.  He looked around his unit and saw that minorities and women—and especially minority women—were paid substantially less than their male white counterparts.  At that point, he decided to stick with his core values against discrimination, file a class action charge, and keep his fingers crossed that more evidence developed.  He did not demand irrefutable proof up front that the law had been violated or focus on the fact that the union “might” lose the case or even try to trade his potential case for an immediate tangible favor.  He was paid to be the employees’ advocate and he began advocating. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 6, 2015 by AdminUN

NEGOTIABLITY: NOW, THE BAD NEWS

FLRA just had a chance to apply a big chunk of common sense to federal sector labor relations, but took a pass. See NTEU, 68 FLRA 334 (2015). Here is the situation.  Agencies have the right to detail employees to higher graded positions for months and even years. They are allowed to give them temporary promotions to the higher grade while they do the work.  But, if the agency fails to run a vacancy announcement competition to fill the temporary promotion slot, it cannot pay the employee the higher pay for more than 120 days over a 12 month period, no matter how long the employee stays in the job or how well she performs. According to the FLRA, it cannot pay her even if it wants to or whether she was the only person available to do the work.  Why did it make such an unjust decision?  Because it listened to OPM during one of its very dark, anti-employee periods. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 6, 2015 by AdminUN

OPM’S COMPETITIVE SELECTION AVATARS

Last week the Washington Post reported that OPM has begun using avatars to measure the aptitude of people applying for federal jobs.  The Post wrote that the system, “…uses animated avatars and videos to simulate challenges that could confront employees, testing their reasoning and problem-solving skills….a correct answer leads to a harder question and an incorrect one rachets down to an easier option.” It also revealed that “Federal employee unions said they were unfamiliar with the new hiring system and could not take a position.”  Those are two very different and very important stories.  First, let’s consider the test. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 6, 2015 by AdminUN

HOW TO DO QUICK NEGOTIABILITY RESEARCH

OPM has an on-line document that we have found helpful for two reasons.  First, it is a good source for ideas about mid-term proposals the union could make.  The ideas are sorted by subject, the proposal briefly described, a case citation provided if you want to look into the idea in more detail, and those proposals held negotiable easily marked in a separate column. Second, it is a quick way to see in a general way whether what you are proposing is negotiable.  It is not even close to being a reliable source if you are litigating and issue. But for most other situations, it beats slashing your way through Cyberfeds, Lexis or Westlaw.  OPM calls it the Negotiability Determination Report.  Here is what you are likely to find if you go looking for something .  This is a site union leaders should post to the “Favorites” list for easy reference. Continue reading →

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Posted on April 1, 2015 by AdminUN

UNION POWER: YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW

Every American school kid learns that one reason the Brits lost the American Revolution was that its tactics that once worked so well for them, did not work on the American battle field.  Brightly colored red coats marching in large formations and shooting in volleys intimidated and overpowered other armies on open battlefields, but it turned out to be the opposite of what was needed to fight in the American wildness.  Americans have learned the same lesson in the Middle East over the last two decades.  It is not how many boots are on the ground, but the clout each soldier brings to the battle.  Multi-talented Special Operation troops are often many times more effective than traditional infantry.  What unions need to take from these two and hundreds of other examples is that what made them powerful yesterday is unlikely to work as well tomorrow.  The environment changes, the opposition adjusts, and technology presents new options.  Union leaders planning for the future need to think about the fights ahead, not solely how they won in the past.  What will make them powerful tomorrow?  Here are some of our thoughts. Continue reading →

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Posted on March 30, 2015 by AdminUN

HOW MANAGEMENT KEEPS UNION MEMBERSHIP LOW

If you have been following us for a while you know we have often publicly expressed our anguish over union locals where the percentage of unit employees who are union members is less than half the national average throughout multiple terms of office for the local leaders.  For example, if 60% of the employees represented by a national union are members, then locals below 25% membership are the kind we are talking about.  It would seem that national union leaders owe it to the top-performing locals to  fix these situations promptly.  They certainly have a number of options ranging from the subtle to the more substantive or even shocking.  For example, Continue reading →

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Posted on March 30, 2015 by AdminUN

GOOD NEWS FOR UNION  TRUE BELIEVERS

Thanks to the Washington Post for an article Sunday about how the thousands of temporary employees Microsoft hires through contractors, to avoid giving them the Microsoft benefits, have unionized and just won the right to a couple weeks of paid leave each year.  It is an encouraging story for those of us who understand what effective unions can do for this country as well as a revealing one that reaffirms some of our strong suspicions about how to run unions.  If you take the time to read the story, stop when you get to the part about how a law firm won millions and millions in back pay for these temporary employees before the employees organized and try to imagine what could have been done if a union had sponsored that lawsuit and used it to launch the union.  Also don’t dismiss the importance of the union keeping dues at $2.00 a month.  Unions may be almost immune to competition from other unions thanks to no raid pacts, but they have to compete just as hard as any merchant or company for a share of employees’ take home pay.  In other words, why should a prospective member give $19.00 a pay period to a union when s/he can instead use those dollars to buy five cable movies, a very nice bottle of wine, or take 19 chances at a Powerball fortune?  You will hear more about this from us soon because we believe keeping union dues low is critical to union survival.

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