Posted on October 23, 2014 by AdminUN

CAN SOLAR PANELS BOOST UNION MEMBERSHIP?

One way unions attract new members is by offering benefits, especially economic benefits, only to members. The benefit must be attractive by itself, the savings substantial, and the deal limited only to members. But the fourth and most important element of a successful membership benefit is that the union offer it before it is widely available in the market. The Boston Globe carried an interesting story today about how last year the World Wildlife Fund offered its employees deep discounts on solar panels, i.e., 34% cheaper than the average market price. The Globe noted that the panels could reduce the monthly power costs of a family paying $147 per month to $97. Now Cisco Systems, 3M, National Geographic, Honda and others have done the same thing. This seems like an ideal benefit for unions to offer only to members, whether offered through a national deal with one of the solar panel providers or locally via a multi-local arrangement. 

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Posted on October 23, 2014 by AdminUN

TRANSGENDER FEDERAL EMPLOYEE WINS DISCRIMINATION CASE

The Washington Post just published a story about how the U.S. Special Counsel convinced the Dept. of Army to correct the harm done to a transgender employee from “frequent, pervasive, and humiliating” gender-identity discrimination. It is a great precedent to use if a member is confronted with a similar situation. In fact, we suggest you pass the link on to any transgender employees you represent in case they have been reluctant to share problems they have had.

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Posted on October 22, 2014 by AdminUN

BID & ROTATION DYNAMICS

The Panel just issued a decision dealing with the right of AFGE Correctional Officers to bid into various assignments by seniority. (AFGE, 2014 FSIP 48) NTEU CBP Officers and several other law enforcement groups have similar systems. Ideally, more lawyers, accountants, scientists, engineers, and other federal professionals will pursue similar rights. So, we thought this would be a decent time to explain union rights to negotiate over how work is assigned and the power the union has throughout the bid & rotation process. Continue reading →

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Posted on October 22, 2014 by AdminUN

DEVELOPING NATIONAL UNION LEADERS FROM WITHIN

Running a national labor unions well demands a lot of skill. AFGE, for example, has an annual budget of over $100 million, 300,000 members, and thousands of locals involving almost every government agency. Even NTEU and NATCA spend tens of millions each year. On top of that, today all of them have to worry about a problem their unions did not have decades ago, namely, a massive political movement to starve government, downgrade federal employment, and destroy public sector unions. It is no longer just about grievances and negotiations, the typical concerns of most local presidents. So, we thought we would share some ideas on how unions can develop national leaders out of local presidents. Continue reading →

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Posted on October 5, 2014 by AdminUN

CAPE COD LAWYER RESCUES DISABLED CBP OFFICERS

Not long ago we posted a story entitled, “MSPB Recklessly Denies CBP Officers Disability Rights,” which described a new MSPB decision holding that it was not (and likely would never be) a reasonable accommodation for Custom and Border Protection Officers with disabilities to request a fixed eight-hour tour without any obligation to work overtime. It was a terrible decision poorly reasoned by the Board.  A Cape Cod lawyer, arguably the most knowledgeable lawyer in the country on federal employee EEO matters,  joined the legal team of three other private lawyers to challenge the decision and has successfully rescued the right to this reasonable accommodation for all CBP officers. You can read the full decision at MSPB.GOV. It is Alvara v Dept. of Homeland Security, 2014 MSPB 77 (9/29/14). So, CBP Officers can once again ask to be relieved of all overtime obligations or given a fixed tour if either or both will relieve the impact of their disability on their ability to do the essential functions of the job. (As we said in the original post, the employee’s union does not appear to have played a role in either of the two decisions.  Employees are free to hire private lawyers to appeal discrimination allegations to EEOC or MSPB and unions are free to tell employees they will not take their case to EEOC or MSPB. FEDSMILL has no knowledge about which of those two rights led to the union not being involved openly in the case.)

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Posted on October 1, 2014 by AdminUN

THE BEST OF FEDSMILL ON BARGAINING

We have been at this for three years, but so many of our readers either joined us after we started or were in very different union leadership positions then. So, we thought we would pull together what we believe to be the most useful pieces we have posted about bargaining so you can catch up or just refresh. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 23, 2014 by AdminUN

Be sure to check back in one week when we will publish the best articles about bargaining that we have issued over the last three years.

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Posted on September 22, 2014 by AdminUN

WANT TO KNOW WHAT WORK YOUR AGENCY HAS CONTRACTED OUT-OR WILL?

FLRA has made it very clear that while unions cannot negotiate over an agency’s substantive decision to contract out work, they can negotiate over impact and implementation issues. (See NAGE, 61 FLRA 593 (2006)).  They can also pursue a ULP remedy if an agency unilaterally contracts out unit employees’ work without notice and bargaining out (See IFPTE, 64 FLRA 508 (2010)) or even denies information the union needs to represent members (See PASS, 65 FLRA 950 (2011)).  But all of those rights mean very little if unions do not know how to find out what work their employer has contracted out or is about to contract out. LR rarely tells unions because even it knows virtually nothing about contracting out.  Here is how to get the information you need right off the web, thereby avoiding reliance on the kindness of the LR, procurement, and FOIA shops. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 22, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT DO SELECTING OFFICIALS OWE BQ CANDIDATES–AGAIN?

We can’t say this often enough.  When Selecting Officials non-select BQ candidates, especially those with higher scores than the selectee, the Selecting Official (SO) must provide the non-selected applicant something more than a vague, subjective, zero-content, non-verifiable reason why he/she was rejected. If the SO refuses to do it voluntarily, simply file an EEO complaint and the SO will be forced to go on the record and under oath. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 22, 2014 by AdminUN

GAO GIVES UNIONS A WAY TO BUILD THEIR IMAGE, RELATIONSHIPS, & MEMBERSHIP

An agency recently asked the General Accountability Office (Comptroller General) if it could use agency funds to buy refreshments for an employee CFC rally designed to boost contributions. While GAO used the occasion to spell out the basic rule and its exceptions, it unknowingly shined a bright light on an opportunity for unions. GAO’s decision said, Continue reading →

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