AFGE Week in Review (May 3, 2010)

AFGE Membership Reaches the 250,000 Mark: AFGE’s membership is continuing to grow in record numbers, and as of April, 2010, the active membership is 252,630, an increase of 2,804 members since February. According to the AFL-CIO membership report issued at the March 2010 Executive Council meeting, AFGE is one of just three unions (AFT and AFSCME being the others) which has grown by 25,000 since 2004. The same three unions were mentioned as having grown by 5,000 or more in 2009, along with the Postal Workers and the Firefighters. 

AFGE Calls for Federalization, Full Funding for FPS: On the 15th anniversary of the devastating bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April, AFGE is calling for federalization and full funding for the agency tasked with protecting federal employees and facilities, the Federal Protective Service (FPS). FPS has about 15,000 contract guards and about 800 federal law enforcement officers. The agency has been a subject of scrutiny by the Government Accountability Office, which this month issued yet another report on how FPS inspectors managed to sneak in guns, knives, and bombs two-thirds of the time into federal buildings protected by contract security guards. These contract guards are underpaid, undertrained and under-monitored.

“Federal buildings and federal employees are potential targets of terrorism and crime. It is a travesty that the main federal agency whose mission it is to protect those very facilities and people is unable to accomplish its mission, due in part to a largely contract guard workforce,” said David Wright, president of AFGE Local 918 representing FPS employees nationwide. Wright, who recently testified before Congress on this exact issue, said FPS manpower has been reduced to levels so low that there were more law enforcement personnel before the Oklahoma City bombing.

AFGE has been shining a spotlight on staffing and funding issues at FPS for years. The union last year successfully convinced Congress to hire more federal law enforcement officers and move FPS out of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be under the National Protection and Programs Directorate so that it receives the attention it deserves. It’s a step in the right direction but more needs to be done. AFGE supports efforts by Congress to introduce FPS reform legislation later this year.

Federal Health Care Professionals Fight for Equal Voice during AFGE’s Nurses Week: During AFGE’s National Nurses’ Week on May 6 – 12, the Department of Veterans Administration health care professionals will urge lawmakers to support two bills pending in Congress, HR. 949 and S.362, that would close the collective bargaining loophole for VA nurses, doctors, dentists, physician assistants, and other front line health care providers. These employees’ bargaining rights are covered under Section 7422 of Title 38, which exempts from collective bargaining issues relating to direct patient care, peer review, and compensation. VA for many years have interpreted these exceptions very broadly to mean that nearly all workplace issues are non-negotiable, which is not what Congress intended when it passed the law in 1991. Mandatory overtime, for example, has resulted in overworked and exhausted nurses. VA doctors have no recourse when they are regularly required to work 12-hour days and weekends without compensatory time.

“The abuses that follow deplete morale and make it harder for the VA to recruit and retain qualified professionals,” said AFGE National VA Council President Alma Lee. “This silencing employees’ ability to fully exercise their rights also jeopardizes their ability to maintain excellence in care and honor a sacred trust between health care professionals and patients.”

In addition to pushing for legislative support for the bills introduced by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., and Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., AFGE and the National VA Council are meeting with VA Central Office to look at the department’s policies for applying these exclusions to Title 38 collective bargaining rights. However, a legislative fix is also critical to ensure that clinicians retain their rights when Administrations change.

AFGE Win Reemployment, $48, 330 in Back Pay for Tampa VA Employee: AFGE recently won a case in which a VA employee/AFGE shop steward in Tampa was wrongly removed last year following a series of false charges. The employee, a respiratory therapist at the Tampa VA hospital, was terminated after VA management alleged six charges against him, ranging from failure to follow proper leave procedures to refusal to carry out directives. After six days of arbitration hearing, the arbitrator sided with AFGE and cleared the employee of every charge. In a strongly worded statement against VA, the arbitrator wrote, “The Agency went about scrutinizing [the employee's] activities in an effort that produced allegations mischaracterizing and exaggerating [the employee's] activities as transgressions and then discharging him. The investigation conducted by the Agency, which did not include [the employee] was inadequate and insufficient. Nonetheless, the Agency relied upon it to support his discharge. In my opinion, the investigation was designed more to collect evidence to support its decision to remove [the employee] than it was an impartial search for truth.”

 ”This case represents a most disturbing template for a misguided and vindictive federal employer determined to destroy an outstanding career of an experienced registered respiratory therapist and union steward,” said AFGE General Counsel Mark Roth. “The decision was a total victory for the employee, and hopefully a wake-up call to the Tampa VA that we will not tolerate this type of treatment of VA employees, particularly our union stewards.”

The employee is to be reinstated with full back pay and benefits.

AFGE Mourns the Passing of Civil Right Matriarch Dr. Dorothy Height: AFGE was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of civil rights matriarch Dr. Dorothy Height. AFGE Women’s and Fair Practices National Vice President Augusta Thomas said, “I had the great honor of knowing and working with Dr. Height during the civil rights movement and will always remember her energy, her passion and her leadership at a time when African Americans and women needed it the most. Dr. Height spent a lifetime fighting racial prejudice, working toward voting rights for all, school desegregation, and overcoming poisonous biases. She was seminal in breaking down the fearsome barriers that threatened the progress of civil rights and gender equality, and Americans across the country have benefited from her endeavors. She leaves behind a tremendous legacy from which we all can draw strength and resiliency. She is truly a national treasure and she will be greatly missed.”

FMCSA Employees Vote AFGE: The employees of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Texas Division (DOT) last month voted overwhelmingly for AFGE representation. Out of a unit of about 154, AFGE won by the margin of ten to one. The employees will be represented by AFGE’s newly chartered Local, 1015. Texas now joins FMCSA headquarters and Arizona in having AFGE representation with a vote in Illinois likely in the next few weeks. 

Coast Guard Employees Vote AFGE: The employees of the Coast Guard organization known as “C4IT” (Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Information Technology Service Center) have voted to elect AFGE as their union representative.  These employees are located in three separate locations, Portsmouth, VA, DC-area, and Martinsburg, WV. The command for this location is at HQ in DC, but most of the employees are in Portsmouth. Employees were particularly concerned about the effects on their workload and working conditions due to on-going Coast Guard reorganizations. The employees will be represented by the AFGE Local nearest to them: Local 423, Local 3313 and Local 43, with Local 423 taking the lead on matters which involve all locations, such as redistribution of workloads. This was the first election that AFGE participated in using the FLRA’s new “Telephone Electronic Voting” procedure. 

Obama Commemorates Workers Memorial Day: President Barack Obama April 28 issued a statement commemorating Workers Memorial Day and called upon all Americans to participate in ceremonies and activities in memory of those who have been killed due to unsafe working conditions. In the statement, Obama remembered those who have lost their lives in recent tragedies, including the oil platform explosion off the coast of Louisiana last week and the explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia earlier this month. But he said most workplace deaths occur far from the spotlight, unrecognized and unnoticed by all but their families, friends, and co-workers. Every day, 14 workers are killed in on-the-job incidents, while thousands die each year of work-related disease, and millions are injured or contract an illness. 

“The legal right to a safe workplace was won only after countless lives had been lost over decades in workplaces across America, and after a long and bitter fight waged by workers, unions, and public health advocates,” Obama said. ”Much remains to be done, and my administration is dedicated to renewing our nation’s commitment to achieve safe working conditions for all American workers.”

TSOs Gives TSA Two Thumbs Down on Performance Evaluation System: Transportation Security Officers love their jobs and are proud to work for an organization that helps protect the country, but they also think that pay and promotions at the Transportation Security Administration have little to do with performance. According to the newly released 2009 employee satisfaction survey conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, 52 percent of TSOs don’t believe promotions are based on merit, compared with 23 percent who think so. Forty nine percent don’t believe pay raises have anything to do with performance, compared with 30 percent who think otherwise. Only 26 percent believe differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way. TSOs were also critical of working conditions. Among other things:

• Only 33 percent believe disputes and conflicts are resolved fairly.
• Only 29 percent believe arbitration action, favoritism, and coercion are not tolerated.
• Only 37 percent feel they are able to raise their concerns to management without negative consequences.
• Only 31 percent believe their leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workplace.

The survey results on performance management are consistent with what AFGE has been saying all along about TSA’s controversial pay system, the Performance Accountability and Standards System (PASS). AFGE supports H.R. 1881, a bill that would do away with PASS and move TSOs under the General Schedule system, which covers most federal employees. The bill would also grant TSOs collective bargaining rights, which would lead to improved working conditions and workplace rules.

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Inside Government: “Avatar” Director James Cameron, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry, and Sen. Mark Warner,D-Va., were featured last week on AFGE’s radio show Inside Government. Cameron, who recently visited Capitol Hill to discuss the threat of climate change, shared his thoughts on U.S. environmental policy and his role in the climate change debate. Berry then discussed the need for strong labor/management relations in the federal government, while Warner addressed the valuable work of federal employees. Also appearing on the show were AFGE Membership and Organization Director Sharon Pinnock, Hooks Book Events President Perry Pidgeon Hooks, and First Command Financial Advisor Bob Hill. Pinnock detailed AFGE’s significant membership growth – a number that now tops 250,000. She also provided an update on AFGE’s fight to secure collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Officers. Hooks discussed her work promoting authors Lee Woodruff, Muhammad Yunus, and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. Hill then highlighted strategies federal employees can implement to help secure their financial futures.

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.