Posted on October 16, 2013 by AdminUN

NTEU BREAKS THROUGH CONTRACTING OUT BARRIER

Unions have had a hard time even slowing agencies down in their pursuit of outside contractors.  OMB removed a lot of the issues from negotiations by issuing a detailed government-wide regulation. The Supreme Court tried its damnedest to minimize union rights to bargain over contracting out.  And arbitrators have moved timidly even when they have found the agencies contracting out in violation of law or regulation.  For example, in IFPTE, 64 FLRA 508 (2010) the arbitrator found the agency had failed to bargain with the union before contracting out work, but merely ordered the agency to comply with the law going forward.  Arbitrator Ira Jaffe did the same in AFGE, 64 FLRA 266 (2009).  Neither ordered a return to the status quo ante nor back pay for the earning opportunities lost by unit employees when their work was moved out the door.  But, speaking of doors, NTEU just kicked its way through the most fortified one protecting agencies.  It convinced an arbitrator to order the agency to take the work back from the contractor until it properly negotiated over moving it to an outside vendor and to pay the employees for the work they lost because it was sent outside the unit. Continue reading →

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Posted on October 1, 2013 by AdminUN

HAS MSPB GUTTED ADVERSE ACTION PROTECTIONS?

It sure seems like that to us.  Imagine that you represent a group of ten GS-11 Claims Analysts, one GS-7 Claims Technician and one GS-5 Secretary. Then one day the group supervisor calls you to announce that she wants to give the Claims Analysts more overtime hours to catch up with the escalating backlog of cases.  However, because there is no money in the budget to pay for those hours, management has decided to furlough the group’s Secretary and Technician for the next 20 work days.  The money saved from not paying their salary will be used to pay for the Analysts’ overtime hours.  According to a new MSPB decision there is not a thing you can do about that. Why? Because the Board has just given managers virtual immunity to withhold 22 work days of pay a year if they want to use the money for other purpose. Continue reading →

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, Furloughs | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on October 1, 2013 by AdminUN

DREADLOCK DISCRIMINATION

Although we do not hear much about agencies prohibiting dreadlocks, we doubt the issue is over forever.  So, take a minute to see how to push back against an agency demand to be dredlock-free. Check out the EEOC lawsuit. You never know when this bit of knowledge will be needed.

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Posted on September 24, 2013 by AdminUN

MSPB SPLITS ON EMPLOYEE FURLOUGH RIGHTS

Is a furlough of 22 work days or less an adverse action or an adverse action “lite”?  The three MSPB members just issued a split decision on that and it promises to be the beginning of a very important dispute for federal employees as we move into the age of budget shutdowns, sequesters, and debt ceilings.  Here is a quick overview of what it could mean to employees and union clout. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 24, 2013 by AdminUN

HOW TO GRIEVE TEMPORARY PROMOTION DENIALS

Most Fed labor agreements require management to temporarily promote employees when it details them for more than some number of days in a year to a higher graded position, e.g., 30 days.  For literally an entire LR generation (and through four Presidential Administrations), unions could get back pay for employees assigned higher graded work no matter how long they were assigned to the work. AFGE, 2 FLRA 684 (1980); AFGE, 20 FLRA 684 (1985); IFPTE, 37 FLRA 1111 (1990); and NAAE, 51 FLRA 1220 (1996).  This was even allowed before there was a labor relations statute. (IAM, 5 FLRC 530 (1977))  Then, in 2004, just as the Commander-in-Chief was trying to take Social Security guarantees from older Americans, his Agitator-in-Chief at the FLRA (aka Dale Cabaniss), led a more successful effort to take away back pay from employees assigned to do more difficult work than hired to do for more than 120 days.  Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2013 by AdminUN

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL PERFORMANCE AWARD SYSTEMS

In a country that knows more than a little bit about the vicious fallacy of a “separate but equal” approach to treating people, one would think there would be little tolerance for it in any venue. Yet, federal executives seem oblivious to how the current performance award programs they operate are precisely that.  HR managers act outright offended  at this accusation even though science proved to them over 50 years ago how destructive even a feeling of inequity among employees is to an organization. Consequently, it has fallen to union negotiating teams to be the modern-day equivalent of Freedom Riders if this is to change. Continue reading →

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Posted on September 12, 2013 by AdminUN

THE COST OF UNDERFUNDING GOVERNMENT

While whining about the cost of government has become an obsession for some, this summer provided several examples of what happens when Americans do underfund their society. This week The Today Show focused on how many are required to buy flood insurance simply because Congress has not given FEMA enough money to update its flood zone maps. For some, that means paying an extra $25,000 over the life of a mortgage for something they will never need for a reason as incontrovertible as they live atop a hill. Continue reading →

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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