Posted on March 6, 2015 by AdminUN

THE ELAW ADVISOR

As we have said before, several federal agencies have developed what we will call “A-Z Indexes” to simplify a user’s search for HR/ER/LR information.  Typically, these indexes pull together the most important information a user might need to quickly get a moderately detailed understanding of the law, regs, case law, policy, etc.  If designed well, they extract only the most significant information from the dozens of laws, hundreds of regulations, and thousands of case law decisions and present that in an easy to understand format.  We want to bring to your attention yet another “A-Z” tool that union reps should find helpful.  It is run by the U. S. Dept.  of Labor and called “eLaws.” Continue reading →

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Posted on March 5, 2015 by AdminUN

MODEL LOCAL WEBSITES

NFFE’s Local 1998 at the Passport Service, AFGE’s Councils in the Bureau of Prisons, HUD and VA, all qualify as models against any criteria.  They have up to date news, helpful pages, easy to digest layouts, and lots of hard information.  NFFE is doing a great job keeping folks current on all its litigation, while the three AFGE councils do a particularly good job reporting on midterm negotiations.  But just as we did over three years ago, we are going to declare NTEU Chapter 293, representing employees at the Securities and Exchange Commission, to be the best.  You understand what is there in a glance without scrolling past large pictures or slashing your way through clutter, although if you want to read the last seven years of their newsletters they are there too under a menu button. But best of all, it has been strategically planned to attract members. For example, Continue reading →

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Posted on March 3, 2015 by AdminUN

PRESIDENT KELLEY RETIRES FROM NTEU

Colleen Kelley, a fixture around NTEU for decades, announced today that she will leave office this August. She first made an impact as president of the NTEU IRS chapter in Pittsburgh, PA where she nearly doubled the local’s membership overnight once she was elected. Not long afterwards, Bob Tobias, the previous NTEU National President, tapped her for a major committee assignment at the NTEU convention and to serve on the IRS national bargaining team. Then, when Tobias needed someone to focus the union on membership building, he hired her away from IRS in 1988 to run that critical program. From there, he put her in charge of all the administrative elements of a national union, e.g., finance, information technology, property, etc. Given her rapid ascension inside the union, it was no surprise when Tobias asked the convention delegates to elect her as National Executive Vice President in 1995, putting her in the “heir apparent” position for when he retired in 1999. Continue reading →

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Posted on March 3, 2015 by AdminUN

MARYLAND LAWYER SAVES BREASTFEEDING CBP OFFICER

Socorro Thome was a trained and experienced Customs and Border Protection Officer (CBPO) in the tough port of El Paso, Texas when she became pregnant in November 2010.  At that point, she began light duty work.  Following the birth and some FMLA leave, she returned to work in October 2011 approved to work without physical restrictions.  However, two weeks later she asked to be returned to light duty because she planned to breastfeed her child until he was one year old and his pediatrician “highly recommended” that the Officer continue on light duty while breastfeeding due to a concern that “she may be exposed to contaminants such as lead, drugs, or infectious diseases that may be transmitted to the child through breast milk.”  She backed that up with a note from her own doctor and in January 2012 email, an agency Labor and Employment Relations Specialist stated that she had determined that the appellant’s medical documentation was sufficient to support her request to remain on light duty while breastfeeding.  Three weeks later the Port Director gave her a letter insisting that she return to full duty or resign. When she refused to choose, he proposed to remove her on a charge of “Unavailability for Full Performance of Customs and Border Protection Officer Duties,” citing her “continued unwillingness or inability” to fully perform CBPO duties. The deciding official sustained the charge, noting that although Thome was medically able to fully perform her duties she chose to make herself unavailable.  He also stated that Thome’s demand to be isolated from lead, drugs, and infectious diseases was “literally impossible to fulfill” and pointe out that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) had conducted a study which determined that “exposure for agency employees was within tolerable limits.” Do you see the error the agency made that guaranteed Thome would win the case?  (Hint: It has nothing to do with pregnancy discrimination.) Continue reading →

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Posted on March 3, 2015 by AdminUN

GRIEVANCE DRAFTING TIPS 4, 5, & 6

Before we turn to three other parts of a grievance where you can boost its winning potential and impact, remember this.  If you were unable to draft the grievance broadly enough during the grievance stage, often arbitrators will allow the parties to deviate from the exact wording of the grievance and the management responses when crafting the formal issues statement for him.  If you have that opportunity, here is an example of how a promotion-related grievance might be written for the arbitrator, “Did the agency violate Article X, Section Y of the parties’ agreement or any law, rule or regulation when it denied the following individuals promotion.” So, now let’s turn away from the grievance issue to look at your other opportunities. Continue reading →

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Posted on February 26, 2015 by AdminUN

GRIEVANCE DRAFTING TIPS 1, 2 & 3

Most contracts merely require the union to put the following in the grievance: 1- Article and section violated, 2- Description of the grieved event, and 3- Remedy desired.   As clear as that or similar language appears, there are some drafting tips that will boost your chances of winning. Continue reading →

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Posted on February 26, 2015 by AdminUN

WE REALLY LIKE THIS WEB SITE

Although great web sites are not the cure for everything that ails unions, they can do a lot of good, such as A-Z topic pages. So, we like to point out examples of good pages when time permits—and AFGE has a really good one for the following eight reasons: Continue reading →

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Posted on February 23, 2015 by AdminUN

IT IS TIME FOR THE TALK. THE BIRDS, THE BEES AND THE PDA.

How much do you really know about that facts of life and particularly pregnant employees? Probably not enough, especially if you cannot answer the five questions below. . The EEOC is putting some renewed emphasis on making sure that employees–whether pregnant, hoping to get pregnant or glad the pregnancy is over—are protected under the several laws that grant them rights, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA). Not long ago it published a wonderful Q&A guide about pregnancy. Feel free to ignore it if you already know the answer to the following five questions. Otherwise, click over to it and take about five minutes to catch up. Continue reading →

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Posted on February 23, 2015 by AdminUN

AFGE BOOSTS ITS FINANCIAL STRENGTH

AFGE recently announced that it has paid off the mortgage on its headquarters building, located in a prime spot just a couple of blocks from the U.S. Congress in Washington, DC. Based on its DOL report, that will free up a million dollars or more that the union can use to boost the representational return on the $20.00 a month each member pays in dues, e.g., more staff, more media support of federal employees, more lobbying, etc. The Federation has done a lot of great work over a recent 12 year period driving up membership in locals with chronically low membership, raising its annual income from $39 million to $119 million, and reducing its financial liabilities in one year by $23 million.  Finally owning its national headquarters is yet another financial achievement. The union has a lot to be proud of.

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Posted on February 23, 2015 by AdminUN

INTERESTING FURLOUGH MOU

The FLRA just issued a decision describing the creative way that one union structured sequester furloughs through an MOU. The National Association of Independent Labor (NAIL) negotiated the following concerning employee rights to pick the days on which they would serve their required number of furlough days: The “normal schedule for furlough would be one . . . eight[-]hour day per week.” But the MOU also provided that “mission/workload permitting, [bargaining-unit employees] may elect and be permitted to complete the furlough requirements in increments of between eight . . . and forty . . . hours per week . . . [i]f the schedule does not impact mission/workload requirements.” The arbitrator and FLRA upheld an award of back pay to employees when the agency failed to live by the agreement language. It is something to think about when the agency wants total control over who is furloughed when. NAIL, 68 FLRA 279 (2015)

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