Posted on September 12, 2013 by AdminUN

HOW TO AVOID EXCESSIVELY LONG TRAVEL DAYS

Here are the facts as recently described by the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA), which rules on travel expense disputes for those employees who cannot file a contract grievance to settle them.  “Claimant was authorized travel by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to attend a business meeting in San Francisco, California. Claimant traveled from his home in Kansas City, Kansas, on Monday, July 23, 2012, to attend this meeting on July 24 and 25, 2012. The meeting concluded at approximately 4:30 p.m. on July 25. Thereafter, claimant took personal leave and returned to Kansas City on July 29, 2012. The EPA denied claimant’s request for reimbursement of lodging expenses for the night of July 25, on the basis that claimant was on personal leave as of the conclusion of the business meeting.” Is the EPA employee entitled to another night’s lodging expenses just to avoid the really long work day it would mean if he traveled home on July 25? Continue reading →

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Posted on September 3, 2013 by AdminUN

NAMING GRIEVANTS: A SOURCE OF UNION POWER 

Two members come to you, the union steward, complaining that the manager is no longer following the agreement’s provision about how to distribute overtime and they want to grieve.  After they leave, you call two other union members who work in the same group and ask if they want to grieve.  One says yes and the other no.  You never ask the three employees of the same group that have refused to join the union.  What can you do here to make the nonmembers regret their decision? Continue reading →

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on September 3, 2013 by AdminUN

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Two employees walk into the union office and tell you that their new manager changed the rules for when employees get charged AWOL and disciplined.  In the past, employees could arrive as late as seven (7) minutes after starting time and be considered timely.  Now, however, the new manager had decided that even one minute late more than three times a month will get the employee either reprimanded or suspended depending on how late they are. One of the two employees asks for union protection because he has already been late twice this week while the other employee, the union steward in the group, says that she is willing to be a test case by deliberately coming in five minutes late until she is suspended.  What do you do as the local union president or chief steward? Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining, Discipline/Adverse Action, Past Practice | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on September 3, 2013 by AdminUN

CONGRATS AFGE COUNCIL 214

We just ran across your web site and you deserve to be complimented for what you offer.  Aside from a reader-friendly choice of colors, a menu bar that attracts the reader’s eye, and revolving pictures of the union in action, you have avoided the single most common flaw of union web sites.  You have kept it up to date with timely stories and the posting of the newest signed MOUs.  Your site is easy to use and has substantial value to the members.

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Posted on July 30, 2013 by AdminUN

TIME TO REST

We just put out our 300th postings and consider this as good a time to rest as any.  See you after Labor Day.

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Posted on July 30, 2013 by AdminUN

PITY POOR ALJ SHAPIRO

The Social Security Administration fired one of its administrative law judges, Mark Shapiro, for failing to produce at least 500 decisions a year.  (The preferred target is 700.)  That is two a day if he only takes two weeks of leave in a year. In contrast, it is a good year when an ALJ at the FLRA issues five decisions.  How could Judge Shapiro be fired from one ALJ spot when he produced decisions at a rate that would have earned him a Croix du Guere with endless clusters at FLRA? Continue reading →

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Posted on July 30, 2013 by AdminUN

HOW TO LOSE MILLIONS FOR MEMBERS

Recently, an agency served notice on each of the two unions that represent its employees that it plans to cut the funding of its awards program nearly in half. It currently distributes annually an amount of about 1% of the total annual salaries of all unit employees in awards to them. One union responded by invoking negotiations, and the other did not respond allowing management to immediately implement the funding cuts for their members.  Which union made the better decision? Continue reading →

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Posted on July 30, 2013 by AdminUN

NTEU BREAKS OVERTIME RESTRAINTS ON FORMER AFGE MEMBERS

Decades ago the Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) issued a proclamation stating that he was taking away the right of INS employees to two consecutive days off a workweek and to work the same starting/quitting times for an entire week.  He declared that it would harm the agency to give INS employees the same rights that all other federal employees had thanks to the law at 5 USC 6101. As a result, INS management was able deny agency employees overtime pay for many of the hours they were assigned to work.  This cost employees millions.  Then, . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Arbitration, Back Pay | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on July 21, 2013 by AdminUN

CAN THIS EMPLOYEE’S JOB BE SAVED?

Here are the facts.  Marisa, a unit employee, came to you a few minutes ago with a copy of an adverse action letter proposing to fire her for a chronic leave problem.  According to the letter, she had taken 11 weeks of leave over the last year, generally for a series of medical issues.  She had enough annual and sick leave to cover eight of those weeks and her supervisor gave her a week of leave without pay after she ran out of annual and sick.  But, the remaining two weeks were charged to AWOL. Marisa also gave you copies of four documents she sent her manager from medical professionals in which each said she needed to take time off to deal with her illness. These accounted for all but a week of her absences.  When you asked if any of her leave was covered by FMLA, she said she never asked for it and the manager never brought it up. Continue reading →

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Posted on July 21, 2013 by AdminUN

BARGAINING WITH JERKS #3- (Tactics)

Table Jerks are all about game-playing at the edge of unethical/illegal bargaining behavior.   They spend most of their time refusing to provide information, proclaiming there is no demonstrated need for the union proposal, and shouting “Non-negotiable.”  But, those are not the only areas of law they try to exploit.  Here are two others and some suggestions on how to deal with them. (This is the third in a series about how to deal with the few management reps who come to the bargaining table to play games rather than integrate and benefit from union/employee input. Just put the term “Jerk” in our search box and the first two will pop up.) Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining Tactics | Tagged , | Leave a comment