Posted on June 13, 2025 by AdminUN

GRIEVANCE STRATEGY OPTIONS TO CONSIDER  – Part 1

Most labor-management agreements list a few simple items that must be addressed to file a valid grievance, e.g., 1- name of the grievant, 2- agreement article and section violated, 3- date of violation, 4- brief description of the violation, 5- remedy requested, and 6- name and contact number of union rep. So, an inexperienced union rep might think it is therefore easy to draft a grievance, but the experienced rep knows that there are some serious strategy issues to decide under each of those six items.  This is the first in a six-part series that will explain what those strategic issues are. Part I deals with the Name of the Grievant. What is so complex about that you might be asking yourself?  Well, to borrow some famous words from our childhood, “Gather around and you shall hear.”  Continue reading →

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Posted on June 13, 2025 by AdminUN

CONGRATS TO AFGE TO CLUBBING DOGE ONCE AGAIN

Unions are fighting Trump and the ghost of Elon in very imaginative ways. I always love to see unions stepping outside the normal collective bargaining tools such as ULP’s, grievances, etc. to surprise the White House by coming from a new direction.  AFGE did just that by winning a case in federal court this week. The judge wrote, “The plaintiffs [AFGE} have shown that the defendants disclosed OPM records to individuals who had no legal right of access to those records. In doing so, the defendants violated the Privacy Act and departed from cybersecurity standards that they are obligated to follow….This was a breach of law and of trust. Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs,….”  Here is a new story with more details about AFGE’s victory. Who knows?  Perhaps we will all be getting a check from DOGE for damage done.

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Posted on June 13, 2025 by AdminUN

COURT EXPANDS PAID MILITARY LEAVE RIGHTS FOR FEDS

Given how casually Trump is activating National Guard units don’t be surprised if some of your members are pulled away soon.  A court has just improved the benefits they get while deployed.  Thought we would pass that news along just to alert you so you are not totally unaware of the change when a member approaches you. Check out the FEDweek post here.

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Posted on June 4, 2025 by AdminUN

IS “AGE HARASSMENT” ILLEGAL?

Sexual harassment is a well-known and well-litigated matter.  Mainstream media write about it often and most employers have policies prohibiting it.  But how many have heard of “age harassment” or an age-hostile work environment?  Here is what it is about and how to prove it. In a federal circuit court case titled Milan Dediol V. Best Chevrolet Incorporated Donald Clay, a 65 year old man claimed that his manager regularly addressed him as “old motherf****r,” “old man,” and “pops.”  Continue reading →

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Posted on June 4, 2025 by AdminUN

TRUMP SPECIAL COUNSEL PICK HAS TIES TO ANTISEMITIC EXTREMEISTS AND TATE BROTHERS

Hey, Harvard!  You will get a kick out of this. While Trump is beating you senseless because he alleges you do not treat Jews properly, he just nominated as Special Counsel, the government’s top ethics enforcer, someone who spends his time standing up for antisemites and similar trash.  Just google the word “Ingrassia” with the words Fuentes or Tate. For Feds this probably means that going to the Special Counsel for help will not only be useless, but probably result in that office opening an investigation into you as a suspected DEI-loving, waste-generating, immigrant-supportive, anti-Christian, multi-gender enemy of the people.  We can hope that enough Senators will be offended by this nomination to stop it, but that will not happen unless a whole lot of feds write, email or call their Senators asking them to vote against this insanity.

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Posted on May 13, 2025 by AdminUN

WHY SO MANY OWE AFGE SO MUCH

AFGE just won an injunction stopping White House actions against federal employees that is not just a “whopper,” but a “mega-whopper.”  The Trump-Musk axis ordered agencies to undertake wholesale RIFs’ so it can generate enough alleged savings to justify another tax cut for the wealthy—and contract out the work to privateers. AFGE creatively put together a team of other unions, about a dozen non-profit organizations, and six local governments charging the President’s actions are against the law and arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion. Long story short, AFGE won an injunction blocking any RIF’s for two weeks while the court considers further action against the White House Fed-haters. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 13, 2025 by AdminUN

WE ARE GONE FOR A WHILE

As is our practice here at the Fedsmill conglomerate, we are calling together all our writers, analysts, undercover plants, snitches, and Chechen hackers on the payroll for a powwow about how to deal with Trump, Musk, and the rest of the Fed-haters.  We have rented a Trulli for each to shield ourselves from overhead spy satellites, drones and death rays. This will take a couple of weeks because the Chechens and snitches do  not get along. We will miss you. When we get back we will catch you up on anything that happens in the interim. Ciao!

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Posted on May 13, 2025 by AdminUN

A NEGOTIATOR’S ROOKIE MISTAKE & APPROPRIATE ARRANGEMENTS

This is one of those case law precedents that union negotiators cannot hear enough. If your proposals are all non-negotiable, you give the employer the right to unilaterally implement its proposed midterm change. It can walk away from the table and not look back. But there is a way to reduce the risk of making a proposal(s) that might be non-negotiable. Continue reading →

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Posted on May 6, 2025 by AdminUN

TEST YOURSELF- FMLA, DISABILITIES, AND LIGHT DUTY

An employee, Jessie Crutch, had a long-time reasonable accommodation of being allowed to rest his hip for a few minutes every few hours while working as a warehouse custodian.  As the injury got worse and management less tolerant of his need to sit for a few times a day, he started to take time off using his FMLA rights to rest his hip.   When he returned after two days of FMLA leave, he submitted the same medical documentation he always did, namely that he could perform all his duties but needed intermittent periods to sit. However, his supervisor informed him that he would not be permitted to work again until he either submitted new medical documentation certifying that he no longer needed to rest his hip during the work day or he submitted a formal request for light duty.  So, Crutch went home.  While a sad situation for Crutch, are there any violations of law and regulation here? Continue reading →

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Posted on May 6, 2025 by AdminUN

DON’T RIF BORDER PATROL; REDEPLOY THEM

There must be tickles and giggles all around DOGE these days at the mushrooming number of CBP Border Patrol Agents they can label excess and RIF. Billions and billions of easy savings are just a phone call away from Elon demanding that the Agents turn in their badges and assume the position-at the unemployment office that is.  After all, today’s Border Patrol staffing was designed to counter the rampaging hoards who were streaming across our borders like a zombie apocalypse, eating our cats and dogs, taking those cushy lawn cutting jobs, and luxuriating in those janitorial toilet cleaning gigs. But now that the agents teamed up to get Trump elected and their boy has shut down the flow through a simple suspension of Constitutional rights, it is time for them to get off the public dole, sapping the dollars that could be creating more billionaires. But we are here to say, “Don’t RIF Terminate Them” because… Continue reading →

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