Posted on August 16, 2023 by AdminUN

AND THIS IS WHY YOU NEED UNIONS

At some point after the new White House Lord of the Manor arrived in 2017 word came down to the VA that some unnamed folks in the chain-of-command wanted to look tough on the residents of the Administrative State, the Dark State and the Shadow State.  (Most of us call those folks the America’s professional Civil Service)  So, it was decided to fire dozens and dozens of VA employees without negotiating with the unions over the new procedures management was using.  Nothing puffs-up an authoritarian boss’s ego like instantly taking away a family’s livelihood.  Those employees and their kin were helpless except for one tiny thing the overseers overlooked.  The employees’ union. Here is how it kicked that illegal leadership decision to the curb. Continue reading →

Posted in Bargaining Law, FLRA | Tagged | 1 Comment

Posted on August 16, 2023 by AdminUN

THE “DESIRED POSITION” YIELDS 13 YEARS OF BACK PAY

Amanda was reassigned to a position that she was not able to do as a result of her disability. When she asked for a reasonable accommodation, the agency merely pointed to her own doctor’s explanation that she could not do the job with or without an accommodation. So, out the door the agency tossed her. Her response was that the agency was obligated to consider her not just the position she held at the time, but positions she was willing to take.  EEOC agreed with her noting that the agency was obligated to consider a qualified disabled person for openings in her present job as well as “desired” jobs or jobs she is otherwise capable of performing with or without an accommodation. The Commission went on to write: Continue reading →

Posted in EEO/Disabilities, EEO/Discrimination | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on August 4, 2023 by AdminUN

LOOK WHO WANTS TO SLIT YOUR THROAT

After you have read the news story we have linked to here, remember that federal employees have regularly rescued his state from multiple hurricanes, bring over a billion dollars of revenue annually into his state with their jobs, spend millions vacationing in his state, protect his borders from drug smugglers, send billions of social security and medicare money to his residents, monitor his nuclear plants for safety, clean up his polluted waterways, etc.  Unions need to bargain contract protections now for even the tiny possibility he gets the knife in his hands.

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Posted on August 4, 2023 by AdminUN

HOW TO ADD CLOUT TO YOUR GRIEVANCE

Wouldn’t you love to make a grievance twice as worrisome for management and give the grievant the chance to get a much bigger payoff than a simple allegation of a contract violation? Well, the way to do that is to allege illegal discrimination whenever you can. You can allege it anytime you want, but there are two good rules of thumb for when to absolutely do it.  Below is a very brief explanation of why a discrimination allegation supercharges a grievance. Continue reading →

Posted in Grievance/Arbitration | Tagged | 2 Comments

Posted on July 28, 2023 by AdminUN

WHAT THE “H” “E” DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS THIS FLRA?

The Authority just dismissed a union’s claim that management had unilaterally implemented a change and, in the process, jumbled 40 years of labor law precedent. I am talking about the case law rich concept that when bargaining breaks down, the agency (1) must serve notice on the union that it believes there is an impasse and (2) that it intends to implement on a specified date.  That gives the union the opportunity to invoke impasse services, which delays any change until there is agreement. Continue reading →

Posted in FLRA | Tagged | 7 Comments

Posted on July 28, 2023 by AdminUN

CONGRATS TO NFFE FOR ORGANIZING YELLOWSTONE

Everyone is out there trying to convince unorganized workers to join their union.  In the federal sector, some unions have directors of organizing with budgets, organizing staff, and IT support–and still do not succeed.  Yet, we just heard that NFFE, which has limited organizing resources, pulled off a major success in the National Parks Service. Continue reading →

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Posted on July 25, 2023 by AdminUN

HOW TO RIG A NATIONAL OR REGIONAL UNION ELECTION

I can think of more than half-dozen tricks that incumbents or those favored by the “powers-to-be” can use to get a large advantage in multi-local elections.  But I want to focus on a new age one that involves e-mail addresses.  Continue reading →

Posted in Elections/Voting | Tagged | Leave a comment

Posted on July 17, 2023 by AdminUN

FEDERAL COURT HIGHLIGHTS ANOTHER WAY UNIONS CAN OVERTURN EMPLOYEE TERMINATIONS

An arbitrator blundered, a federal court spotted his blunder, and unions should make sure arbitrators give their members the full benefits of the law. In this case, an agency terminated an employee on two charges, but the arbitrator only upheld one of them.  Nonetheless, the arbitrator… Continue reading →

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Posted on July 17, 2023 by AdminUN

THERE IS SOMETHING ROTTEN AT DODEA

I once worked at the DoD Education Activity (DODEA) as a management official and to this day have enormous respect for its top leader’s integrity and values. But between the EEOC decision covered in this post and the post immediately below, it looks like it is time for an agency-wide DoDEA stand down to focus on civil rights. This is not how those who teach the children of military members around the world should be treated. Continue reading →

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Posted on July 17, 2023 by AdminUN

YOU’RE PROTECTED WHEN YOU JUST SPEAK UP FOR A DISCRIMINATION VICTIM

Iris, is an employee at DoD’s Education Activity (DoDEA) which manages its elementary and high schools around the world. In fact, she was a school principal.  When she raised issues of racial mistreatment of a co-worker to her manager, that manager directed Iris to request a transfer.  Iris believed her supervisor’s order was in retaliation/reprisal for her opposition to the discrimination against a co-worker, and filed a complaint. Here’s is what happened, but . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Retaliation | Tagged | Leave a comment