Posted on January 13, 2012 by AdminUN

MARTIN: THE CONTRACT AVATAR

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 →

Posted in Membership Building, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Posted on January 12, 2012 by AdminUN

QUESTION: WHO GOT YOUR PAY RAISE MONEY?

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 →

Posted in Compensation, Membership Building | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 12, 2012 by AdminUN

SPOTTING DISCRIMINATION VIOLATIONS & GRIEVANCES

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 →

Posted in Awards, EEO/Discrimination, Grievance/Arbitration, Performance | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 7, 2012 by AdminUN

MEDICAL LEAVE AND ADA/ADAAA

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 →

Posted in ADA/ADAAA, EEO/Disabilities, Leave, Membership Building, Privacy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 5, 2012 by AdminUN

AN OPEN LETTER TO PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES

Below is a letter you should copy and send to all probationary employees to undermine those who tell them that they have no rights. Continue reading →

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Posted on January 5, 2012 by AdminUN

16 WAYS PROBATIONERS CAN APPEAL TERMINATIONS

The single biggest lie told newly hired federal employees may be the words “Probationary employees have no rights.”  The second biggest might be that there is nothing the union can do for them during their probationary period. The truth is that a fired probationary employee has more than a dozen options for challenging a termination and only the union has the resources to enforce them. FEDSMILL.com has listed below many that the typical GS federal employee has. Continue reading →

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, FLRA, FLSA/Overtime, FMLA, Grievance/Arbitration, MSPB, Performance, Probation Period, Safety/Health, Special Counsel, Union Rights | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 5, 2012 by AdminUN

PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEE INTERVIEW CHECKLIST

If a probationary employee comes to the union for help because he/she is about to be or has been terminated, the union should go over the following issues with the employee to see if there are grounds for appeal or a strategy for avoiding termination. Continue reading →

Posted in FLRA, Grievance/Arbitration, MSPB, Probation Period | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Posted on January 5, 2012 by AdminUN

AN OPEN LETTER TO PROBATIONARY EMPLOYEES

Below is a letter you should copy and send to all probationary employees to undermine those who tell them that they have no rights. Continue reading →

Posted in Discipline/Adverse Action, Membership Building, Probation Period, Union Rights | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on December 14, 2011 by AdminUN

QUESTION: WHEN IS A PIP A ULP?

 ANSWER: Almost always. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining, MSPB, Performance, ULPs | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Posted on December 14, 2011 by AdminUN

20+ FLRA PRECEDENTS UNION NEGOTIATORS MUST KNOW (Complete)

Collective bargaining is like a tennis match.  The two players repeatedly fire the ball at one another hoping to force a mistake, get an advantage, or just tire the other out.  Furthermore, the strategy changes the deeper and deeper you get into the game, e.g., from the serve, to the return, to drawing an opponent to the net, to pushing her to the line, to catching him in a corner, etc.  The experienced competitor knows that a game is composed of these many different stages-whether we are talking about tennis or collective bargaining; the novice needs to learn them quickly or move to the sidelines and just watch. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining Law, FLRA | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment