Some of us at Fedsmill.com have already been involved with representing transgender employees and it would be wise for all union leaders to keep an eye on how these cases are spinning out. The law firm of Gonzalez, Saggio, & Harlan, LLP just posted a story about a terminated employee who alleged sex discrimination related to transgender activity. We recommend you read it.
And that made my raise totally disappear. Just a few days ago FEDSMILL.com posted an article about how Congress will not fund the IRS to collect over $300 billion our government is currently owed by tax cheats. Then, yesterday David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, published a column with even more details about how Congress prevents IRS from collecting from tax cheats. That money would not only pay for federal employee raises, but also quickly pay off the American debt. It is a “Gotta read” piece. Johnston’s article is entitled, “Honey, They Shrunk the IRS.” But don’t think that Congress is just using this low-visibility technique on IRS to drain the Treasury and make the country look broke.
What’s an impasse cracker? It is one of those tactics seasoned negotiators pull out when bargaining seems hopelessly deadlocked to create an agreement. FEDSMILL.com has listed ten of our favorites for you to consider and use. Continue reading
We set up FEDSMILL.com as a blog rather than pure web site because we wanted to encourage an exchange of our ideas. That is why there is room after every article to post your reactions, thoughts and disagreements. Assuming they do not amount to slander, libel or contain one of the Supreme Court’s seven dirty words, we are going to post your comment to our web site for others to see. Ideally, you come up with better ideas, deeper insights or just something more valuable to say than we have. If you do, we all win. So, start posting. Otherwise, we may start biting.
For decades labor-management contracts have been printed and distributed to all unit employees. Our grandparents walked around with copies in their shirt pockets, our parents had them on the shelves in their cubicles, but they are about to disappear into cyberspace. This evolution away from printed contracts got a wicked shove forward when Martin Malin, a Chicago arbitrator, teamed up last year with an agency’s management to deny employees a published copy of their contract. Continue reading
ANSWER: This one is almost too easy to answer. You probably already read who took it in other media material. The latest IRS analysis of how much money tax cheats are stealing from the U.S. Treasury shows that they made off with a whopping $385 billion in 2006. Their heist amounts to about $1,300 for every man, woman, and child in the country. A family of four lost about $5,200 a year that could have been spent to help them or even to buy down their share of the debt. It would have taken less than 5 of those 385 billion a year to fully fund federal employee pay raises. Continue reading
Every time a member comes to the union for help with some personnel action, the union rep should not only look for violations of the contract, regulations, and past practice, but also whether management’s action amounts to illegal discrimination. That might sound like something only lawyers can do, but it is easy. EEOC and the courts have identified the warning signs that discrimination may have taken place and FEDSMILL.com has put them in one place below for you to use. Continue reading
There are two very good articles circulating that union leaders should read. The first comes from the law firm of Constangy, Brooks & Smith, and it explains EEOC’s approach to leave requests for medical disabilities. It highlights five aspects of that approach that should help union reps trying to assist members–although it is written for employers. Continue reading