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 →

Posted in A-76/Contracting, Information | Tagged , | 1 Comment

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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Posted on September 18, 2014 by AdminUN

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS WRITTEN GRIEVANCE?

Look over the facts listed below to see if you can spot the potential problem in how this grievance was written.  Sarah Smith, our fictional employee, did not make the Best Qualified List for a promotion because the agency used a ranking factor it should not have. If that factor had not been used, Sarah and three other employees would have been on the BQ list instead of the four who were on it when management chose the top-ranked person on the list. Sarah sensed something was wrong when she was not placed on the BQ list, and brought her concern to the union.  It obtained the promotion package, found the error and represented Sarah on the grievance she filed.  It did not file on behalf of the other three harmed employees because they were not members and when asked if they wanted to be covered by the grievance they told the union to leave them alone. Continue reading →

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration, Test Yourself | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on September 16, 2014 by AdminUN

A TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT TIP

Suppose an agency decides that the most advantageous way for you to travel from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Billings, Montana for three days of official duty there is by air with a rental car while there. However, rather than go by air, you choose to drive your POV, which required you to leave Sunday for a Monday 1 PM appointment and also stay another night on the road when travelling home after your last appointment in Billings.  Most everyone knows that you will be reimbursed for the lesser of the cost of travel by air versus the cost of travel by POV.  But just how are the two figures calculated? A recent CBCA decision shows that the Department of Interior’s own travel regulations had it wrong, which leads us to believe other agencies do as well.   (See Cherry, CBCA 3878-TRAV) Here is a more formal interpretation of the rule: Continue reading →

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