From Bill Dougan, National Secretary-Treasurer
It is with great sadness and regret that I confirm the passing of NFFEs beloved national president, Richard N. Brown, who was found unresponsive in his apartment in Arlington, VA yesterday afternoon. To all who knew him, Rick was a strong leader, a dedicated trade unionist, and a friend. Read the rest of this entry >>
May 26, 2009
“President Obama on Tuesday nominated U.S. Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the Supreme Court, tapping the daughter of Puerto Rican parents to succeed retiring Justice David Souter and become the first Hispanic to serve on the high court.
If confirmed by the Senate, the 54-year-old judge will bring nearly 17 years of experience on the federal bench and a history of bipartisan appeal to the high court. She was first appointed to federal bench in the Southern District of New York in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and was named to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
If confirmed by the Senate, the 54-year-old judge will bring nearly 17 years of experience on the federal bench and a history of bipartisan appeal to the high court. She was first appointed to federal bench in the Southern District of New York in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush and was named to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
One of her most prominent rulings came in 1995, when she sided with Major League Baseball players in a labor strike that had led to the cancellation of that season’s World Series.
From 1984 until her appointment to the bench, Sotomayor practiced international business law at the New York-based firm of Pavia & Harcourt LLP. There, she focused on intellectual property issues and litigation and arbitration of commercial and commodity export trading cases, according to her appeals court biography.
Later, Sotomayor became a member of the 2nd Circuit Task Force on Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts, which was established in 1993 to examine the effect of bias on court employees and litigants. She has also remained active in legal education, serving as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law from 1998-2007 and as a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School since 1999.”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104542828
June 12, 2009
“The House quickly passed in a 307-97 vote the Senate’s version of H.R. 1256 on Friday — ending hopes that a conference committee between the two chambers could add federal workforce provisions that were stripped from the bill during legislative wrangling.
Unions including the National Federation of Federal Employees had urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to schedule a conference committee to add language from the House’s original version, which would have allowed workers in the Federal Employees Retirement System to count unused sick time toward their annuities.
Other provisions that didn’t make it into the final bill included measures to make it easier to rehire federal retirees part time; modified how the Civil Service Retirement System calculates annuity payments for employees who retire as part-time workers; and moved federal employees in Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. territories from cost-of-living adjustments into the locality pay system.”
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42937&dcn=todaysnews
At the end of last year, RMA employees in Kansas City were informed that the Agency will begin implementing the law that prohibits pay in excess of 8 hours on holiday for employees who are on flexible schedule. All employees who worked compressed schedule and varied their time of arrival were consequently informed that, if they ordinarily worked more than 8 hours on a holiday, they would have to either take leave or work additional one or two hours in that pay-period in order to recieve full pay. Alternatively, they could choose to start work every day at the same time, and receive holiday pay. This kind of schedule would require them to take leave every time they deviate from their schedule work starting time.
Good news! Shawn Beach is back at the Risk Management Agency and is currently in the Topeka office. We are looking forward to continuing to work with Shawn.
Good news on the EEO front. Carl Frazier has won his EEO case. Justice is sometimes slow, but always sure. Carl will be selecting the location of his choice. Congratulations Carl!
We would like to announce the election of several new officers.
NFFE Local 858 Board of Trustees:
Conductor/Sentinel:
