AFGE Week in Review

March 26, 2010

NP Gage Recognized for His Work on Political Education: The Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO will recognize AFGE National President John Gage at its 2010 Committee on Political Education dinner for exemplifying the spirit of the union movement. Gage joins the ranks of past honorees including political luminaries such as Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, Governor Martin O’Malley and Rep. Elijah Cummings, and labor legends Morton Bahr, former president of CWA; Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers; and Jerry McEntee, president of AFSCME. The proceeds from the April 13 dinner are used for voter registration and voter education purposes.  

“Having worked for years with this organization, I know first-hand the excellent work it has done and the exceptional successes it has achieved on behalf of the labor movement.  It is humbling to be honored by the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO and I thank them for this recognition,” Gage said. 

NVP Thomas Honored for Inspiring Women, Labor Movement: National Vice President for Women’s and Fair Practices Augusta Thomas was honored earlier this month at the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s First Annual Working Women’s Award celebration for her achievements that have inspired women to strive for greater advancement in their workplace, their union and their community. The CLUW speaks out for equal pay, child and elder care benefits, job security, safe workplaces, affordable health care, contraceptive equity, and protection from sexual harassment and violence at work.

NVP James Named Chicago Federation of Labor’s 2010 Woman of the Year: 7th District National Vice President Dorothy James recently was named the 2010 Woman of the Year by the Chicago Federation of Labor at the organization’s 29th Annual Tribute to Trade Union Women. NVP James is being recognized for her remarkable contributions to the advancement of the trade union movement. The CFL is comprised of more than 300 labor unions and boasts a membership of more than 500,000. 

AFGE Opposes Tax Bill: AFGE strongly opposes a bill that would require federal agencies to fire employees who are tax delinquents because employees would be terminated before they had a chance to appeal. AFGE believes the sole purpose of the bill, H.R. 4735 introduced by Republican Congressman from Utah Jason Chaffetz, is to take a political potshot at federal employees.

“Federal employees are American citizens and should be treated equally in this process,” said AFGE President John Gage. “Their tax issues as individuals should be between themselves and the IRS so that all facts and circumstances can be properly adjudicated through the various appeal processes.”

In a testimony before Congress March 17, AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Marrow said agencies currently have sufficient authority to discipline and terminate employees who willfully evade taxes after it’s been proved through due process. 

Gage Urges Senators to Stand Up for TSO Collective Bargaining Rights: In a special meeting with 28 Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill March 17, AFGE President John Gage urged the senators to push back on the attacks from some Republican members of Congress on collective bargaining rights.

“It is an insult to say belonging to a union is a threat to national security,” Gage told members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, including Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin. Gage was one of 12 union leaders at the meeting. AFGE was the only TSA union invited because AFGE is the largest federal employee union representing more than 600,000 federal workers. AFGE is also affiliated with the AFL-CIO, the largest labor movement in the country representing 12 million members.

New Labor-Management Council Kicks off 1st Meeting: The new National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations created by President Obama’s executive order recently met for the first time to establish ground rules and guiding principles. AFGE President John Gage raised a critical issue for real success of agency labor-management forums. Gage argued that operational officials who are decision makers need to be the management participants in the forums instead of human resources or labor relations types. Several council members supported Gage’s idea, and the council adopted this concept as one of the guiding principles that agencies would be required to bring decision-makers to the table as well as any support staff they might need. Gage also disagreed with one proposed metric to measure improvements in labor-management relations: declines in grievances, bargaining disputes and unfair labor practices filed by employees.

“It’s a false expectation to think that grievances are going to plummet because we have forums that are working on really other issues,” Gage said. “I’m not going to tell my people to stop filing grievances or anything else. Grievance procedure is a good thing.”

The council agreed to strike that metric and replace it with a lower-priority metric that calls for looking at the number of disputes that get resolved without third-party interventions. Gage was also appointed a member of a four-member working group that would review agencies’ plans on how to create labor-management partnerships. The rest are NAGE President David Holway; Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Jane Lute; and Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Scott Gould.

The next council meeting will be April 7. For more information on the council, visit http://www.lmrcouncil.gov/.

AFGE Calls for Change in Leadership at VBA: AFGE National Secretary-Treasurer J. David Cox told lawmakers March 18 that the Veterans Department urgently needs a permanent Undersecretary for Benefits and new senior management at the Veterans Benefits Administration to help this new leader effectively implement the many good solutions that have been proposed and enacted into law to reduce the backlog of benefits claims. Cox, who was a former VA nurse, said the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act (P.L. 110-389), which AFGE worked closely with Congress to enact, provides many valuable tools that will significantly reduce inventory. AFGE has been frustrated with VBA’s inability to fully enact the reforms presented in the law.

“VBA employees are committed to ensuring that veterans receive the benefits they deserve, but current VBA leaders are unwilling to commit to their employees by providing adequate training to master the complex skill of processing claims,” Cox told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. “All too often, after initial training employees are routinely denied ‘excluded time’ for training and are pushed into the production line prematurely.” 

Cox urged the committee to ensure that VBA managers and frontline employees are provided the proper training to accurately process claims the first time. Unfortunately, as is common now, managers without sufficient expertise are unable to carry out quality assurance duties, leading to greater errors, which in turn lead to greater delays. Therefore, it is critical that managers pass the same certification tests required of senior claims processors.

AFGE Calls on Congress to Protect Federal Facilities, Employees: Testifying before Congress March 16, David Wright, president of AFGE Local 918 representing Federal Protective Service (FPS) personnel, asked Congress to provide enough funding for the beleaguered agency so that it can better protect federal buildings and employees who work in them. Over the past two years, Wright said FPS has been examined six times by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and in each study, GAO concluded that the agency is unable to fulfill its mission because of internal challenges.

“The recent attacks on the Pentagon, an IRS building in Austin, and federal courthouses in Las Vegas and Kansas City serve as wake up calls to both the administration and the Congress that the time for discussion, studies and years of reports is over,” Wright said. “Action is required now, not after the next major terrorist attack.”

Wright said FPS is crippled by a severe lack of trained personnel. In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, the federal government determined that a minimum of 1,480 FPS personnel were necessary to perform the agency’s mission. In the 15 years since that terrorist attack, the agency has never reached that level of personnel. In fact, since the development of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003, the total number of inspectors and police officer positions has dropped from 1,017 to 830 – a reduction of over 18 percent.

AFGE Wins Election to Represent Hagerstown Telephone Center Employees: Employees of the Bureau of Census’ Hagerstown Telephone Center in Maryland voted earlier this month to elect AFGE as their union. Given the difficulty of reaching much of this mainly part-time and intermittent workforce of about 200, not to mention the snow that interrupted part of our campaign, AFGE came out strong, thanks to the staff and activists from Local 1923 and NVP for 4th District Joe Flynn and Coast Guard Council President Demetrios Stroubakis.

Commissary Employees Vote AFGE: Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) employees at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey recently voted to elect AFGE as their union. The new members will be represented by AFGE Local 225.

Inside Government: The nation’s hardworking and dedicated federal work force were celebrated last week on AFGE’s radio program, Inside Government. Partnership for Public Service Vice President John Palguta discussed the valuable work of federal employees and debunk the myth that they are paid significantly more than their private sector counterparts. Palguta also addressed the notion that the federal government is too big and growing out of control. AFGE Membership and Organization Assistant Director Cathie McQuiston then updated listeners on AFGE’s petition for exclusive representation at the Transportation Security Administration. McQuiston detailed the process and discussed the possibilities of what to expect next. Lastly, AFGE Local Presidents Kevin Tinker (Local 3377) and Everett Kelley (Local 1945) shed light on their locals’ most pressing issues. Specifically, Tinker addressed the high work load at the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services, while Kelley detailed his fight to have term and temporary employees converted to full-time status. Kelley also appeared on the launch of “Inside Government” TV at AFGE’s recent Legislative and Grassroots Mobilization Conference in Washington, D.C.

Inside Government is hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow. To listen live on Fridays at 10 a.m., please go to http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=52 and click on the red “LISTEN NOW!” tab at the top of the page. You then will be instructed to choose a format to play the program (e.g. Windows Media Player). There will be a few advertisements before you hear “Inside Government.”

If you miss the show, you can always download it anytime at www.afge.org/insidegovernment, which has the most recent show and a link to previous shows. You also can click on the “‘Inside Government’ on Federal News Radio” link to visit us on the Federal News Radio Web site, which also has the most recent show and links to previous shows. Follow “Inside Government” on Facebook (Search: AFGE Inside Government) and Twitter @afgeradioshow.