Almost every time we write about a union in anything other than glowing terms we hear from a few folks, not many at all, that we should avoid criticizing unions in public, that union flaws should be kept private, and/or that we are hurting their union. Well, respectfully, we disagree. Continue reading
The folks over at FMLA Insights put out an interesting post this week about the error an employer made denying a disabled probationary employee a LOA. It is our guess the employer never thought twice about the rights probationary employees have under the law, such as the ADA. It is a good piece to remind union reps about the many statutory rights probationers have, whether they are government employees or not, and to circulate among unit members to let them know that they do have rights and the union is the place to come for help. Check out “Employer Fails to Provide Leave of Absence to Probationary Employee, Pays the Price.”
If you missed OPM’s latest effort to interfere with collective bargaining, double back and read it closely. OPM has announced that it wants “to change an outdated leave practice.” To be precise, it wants to do away with the practice of granting administrative or excused absence on days the office is closed due to inclement weather or other events. Instead, it wants those who were scheduled to take annual or sick leave that day generally be charged the leave rather than given administrative or excused leave. We understand its interest, but we have several problems with how it is going about it. Continue reading
Match-making has gone high tech in nearly every corner of society. Corporations long ago saw the value of strategic planning algorithms to find acquisitions, drive mergers, sell business lines, etc. At the other end of the spectrum, E-Harmony, Jdate, Muslima, Amishdating, DateADwarf, and all the other DotCom dating depots are proof of how far down into our culture that analytical match-making has filtered. But it has not hit unions yet. So, we thought we would speculate about how that could help the federal sector unions, using NFFE as the focal point example. (This is a revision of an earlier post based on corrected and additional facts.) Continue reading
A few weeks ago we compared the four major federal sector unions to one another with a particular focus on how each spends its dues money. (See “Compare AFGE, NATCA, NFFE & NTEU By the Numbers.” That is something we are going to continue to look at for the simple reason that the more efficiently that money is spent the better off employees should be. Having an understanding of the different ways unions spend puts all of us in a position to spot the better ways to use the cash. Given that NTEU finally filed its report for 2014 the last few days in December we can now compare unions using reports filed only in 2014. This post focuses on who were the highest paid union officials as reported in 2014. Here is what we found. Continue reading
Junk yard dogs are famous for never letting go once they sink their teeth into something–no matter how hard the victim struggles and fights back. A good union needs a few of them around, especially the shrewd ones with lots of fighting experience, to deal with the more complex threats—like the one that NTEU ran into soon after September 11, 2001. At that time, the Customs Service made vast unilateral changes in how Customs Inspectors were assigned to shifts, allegedly to boost security. When Homeland Security was formed the Customs and Border Protection Service did the same thing to the CBP Officers. NTEU filed standard ULP grievances, but lost them all. That’s when they let the dogs out. Continue reading
Look over these facts to figure out how you would represent these two employees. Then we will tell you the official outcome of the case. The Department of Justice suspended two attorneys for behaving unprofessionally in a case involving prosecution of a U. S Senator. Bottini got 40 days and Goeke 15 days. Continue reading
Twenty years ago if Sherman, our hypothetical disappointed non-selected employee, walked into the union office complaining that he thought the promotion interview questions were chosen to make one particular applicant look better than all the others, the union would have probably filed a grievance on behalf of Sherman. Ten years ago most unions had recognized that they should file a grievance on behalf of everyone in the promotion package. That covers any others also potentially harmed and boosts the chances of getting some remedy should Sherman not be the one entitled to corrective action. Today, more and more union reps know that there is an even better approach, namely, the class action and the mega grievances which generate clout for the union far beyond the grievance process. Continue reading
A tip of the hat to the law firm of Passman & Kaplan for its new book entitled, FEDERAL EMPLOYEES LEGAL SURVIVAL GUIDE (3rd ed.). The firm, whose lawyers only represent employees and unions, has produced a book that will benefit any full-time union rep, chief steward or local president. The first thing we liked about it is its thoroughness. It covers virtually every topic a union rep is going to run into. We have reproduced its Table to Contents below in case you doubt us. Another part we and many of you will appreciate are the many representational “Tips” the firm provides for union reps as it walks the reader through the procedures and rights associated with 33 different representational issues we can face. Finally, the page layout makes it very easy to read as opposed to some of the advice books that jam a zillion words on a page in eight-point type. Give it an A+ for being reader-friendly. This is something you should have in the union office to fill in the gaps for the experienced local union reps and to help new union reps get a very good overview of areas they will work. Continue reading
Here are the facts. A member, let’s call her Sharon, walks into the union office and asks for help because her manager just gave her an Unacceptable Performance rating and put her on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). You look it over quickly, conclude that the manager seemed to base the letter on rather thin evidence, and ask the employee if there is anything else going on between her and her manager. Continue reading