Thursday, January 28, 2010

(National Federation of Federal Employees)

In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a three-year discretionary spending freeze on federal funding that is not related to national security. The freeze is proposed to take effect in Fiscal Year 2011.

A number of agencies and social programs are not impacted by the proposal. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs are left out of the plan, as well as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and certain international programs.

For agencies not exempted from the budget freeze, it is too soon to tell what the impact for each will be. The White House has indicated that some agencies and programs will see budget increases, while others will see decreases, but the net impact for all the impacted agencies as a whole will be a Fiscal Year 2011 budget equal to that of Fiscal Year 2010.

It also remains unclear what the White House will propose for the FY11 annual pay adjustment. We will know more when the President passes his FY11 budget proposal to Congress on Monday. The White House has announced that salaries of senior White House officials and other top political appointees will be frozen in FY11, but the Administration has been made no mention of what will be offered for military and civilian federal employees.

As we move through the FY11 budget process, NFFE will continue to push for pay parity between military and civilian federal employees, and annual pay adjustments that are consistent with current law. Furthermore, NFFE will strongly defend against cuts to the numerous federal agencies that provide invaluable services to the American people.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

(National Federation of Federal Employees)

Yesterday, employees in the U.S. Forest Service Human Resources Management (HRM) department in Albuquerque, NM voted in favor of representation by the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE). Nearly 65% of the bargaining unit turned out to vote yesterday, a very high turnout for a union election.

“Yesterday’s victory could not have happened without the hard work and cooperation of many of our union brothers and sisters,” said NFFE National Organizing Director Cassie Kerner. “I am so grateful to everyone who lent a hand on this campaign. Thanks to everyone’s perseverance, the employees of HRM will now have a much-needed voice in their workplace.”

Just one day after the victory at the polls, 26 HRM employees have already joined on as dues paying members. This victory was the result of a lengthy and hard-fought battle to secure representation for approximately 385 employees in the department.

The process began in the spring of 2008, when NFFE began collecting signatures from HRM employees who were interested in union representation. NFFE faced a number of hurdles over the next several months, but eventually was able to finalize a bargaining unit of approximately 385 people last November.

HRM employees in Albuquerque will now be covered by the Master Agreement negotiated by the NFFE Forest Service Council.

Thanks to National Business Representative Gary Johanson, Organizing Director Kerner, Forest Service Council President Ron Thatcher, National Vice President Jozef Drozdowski, IAM Organizer Terri Friend, and the members of NFFE Local 2197 for all of their hard work in this campaign.

Friday, January 15, 2010

(National Federation of Federal Employees)

Thursday, William R. Dougan, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, attended the White House Forum on Modernizing Government, an afternoon event focused on improving the efficiency of government services. Participating were some of the greatest minds in the federal and private sectors, including federal labor leaders, high-level agency executives, and more than 50 of the country’s top CEO’s.

Held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the event began with a speech by President Obama, who stressed the need to embrace emerging technologies as a means for increasing government productivity while reducing costs. The President urged participants to discuss practices that have worked well for their organizations.

“I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives,” said President Obama. “Improving the technology our government uses isn’t about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our websites – it’s about how we use the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them.”

Participating in a workgroup designed to review customer service, National President Dougan worked alongside CEO’s of major corporations such as Angie’s List, Rosetta Stone, and Kelly Services. During the group exercise, Dougan emphasized the importance of agency workers who actually provide the services to the American people.

“Any conversation about improving the delivery of government services has to start with the employees who are actually doing the work,” said Dougan. “Robust and constructive labor-management relations are just as important as technology when it comes to delivering quality and efficient customer service.”

The event, lasting nearly four hours, was just the beginning of an ongoing dialogue the White House wishes maintain with federal and private sector leaders. In the coming weeks, months, and years, NFFE will continue to work with the White House and Industry on this task in a concerted effort make the federal workplace an example that every American can be proud of.

In our constant endeavor to provide the best possible representation to the RMA-KC bargaining unit members, we have sent the following email to the Associate Deputy Administrator in Kansas City:

“We are very pleased about President Obama’s initiative to establish labor-management councils and build and develop cooperative relationship between Management and the Unions in the Federal Government. RMA is a relatively small agency with the potential to provide an example of how, through effectively engaging employees, Agencies can work more efficiently and improve the service they provide to American public. We look forward to establishing a labor-management council as directed by the Executive Order of December 9, 2009.

We believe our Agency is an ideal candidate for the pilot programs outlined in Section 4 of the Executive Order, and we hope that we can prove to be the leaders in this initiative of the President through participating in it.

Please let us know what steps the Agency is taking in order to comply with the Executive Order.”

We shall keep you posted on Agency’s reply and the progress of forming the Labor-Management Council.

Labor-Management Forums Executive Order

You may have noticed the new look of our Local’s bulletin board on the first floor, and the executive order posted on it. In case you wondered what it means, here is some of the response that NFFE released:
“We are very pleased to see the Obama Administration take meaningful strides to engage the federal workforce,” said William R. Dougan, national president of the National Federation of Federal Employees. “Federal employees care deeply about the service they provide to the American people, but for almost a decade they have lacked an avenue to contribute ways to make the agencies they work for more efficient and effective. Going forward, federal workers will have the ability to contribute their ideas, and the American people will benefit because of it.”

What does it mean to you? It means that now, through your Union you can have a voice in all your workplace matters before the Management implements changes that affect you as a federal employee and as a taxpayer. The last time we had a chance for this kind of involvement in our workplace, after years of failed attempts the Union negotiated  a 4/10 compressed schedule.

Remember, the management is not there because you chose them to lead you. You now have a chance to be the leader in your workplace. Take advantage of it by joining the Union and becoming an active member.

Labor-Management Forums Executive Order

After meeting with the Agency, we have agreed to a pilot fitness program.

The Union is taking the initiative to bring in their own certified personal trainer with which employees can then organize with to customize a training schedule.  RMA is sponsoring them for contractor badges so that the training can take place as convenient to both parties.  The time spent must still be on one’s own time (before/after work, lunch or leave) and costs will be out of pocket for now.  However, we are excited to at least provide some additional services to those interested. The rates are not finalized but we believe it will cost under $10 for a 30 minute session, which is very low compared to most personal trainers.  As mentioned before, personal trainer costs can be covered by FSA’s.  Please contact Minja if you are interested so we can start forming groups.

Of course, those who already use the gym (or want to start!) can continue to do so at their own convenience at no cost, just like it has been.

Earlier this week, President Obama signed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. While a full repeal of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) dominated headlines, one largely underreported aspect of the bill – and arguably one of the most important for federal employees throughout the civil service – was a provision extending credit for accrued sick leave to federal workers enrolled in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS).

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