AFGE Week in Review (April 13, 2009) 

Defense to Replace Thousands of Contractors with Feds: The Defense Department has plans to hire 13,000 new civil servants in 2010 and up to 30,000 over the next five years to replace support service contractors. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during an April 6 press briefing that the department will also increase the size of its acquisition workforce, converting 11,000 contractors and hiring an additional 9,000 government acquisition professionals by 2015 – beginning with 4,100 next fiscal year. For Gates' full budget speech, visit http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1341.

AFGE, which has been calling for a stop in waste, fraud, and abuse in contracting out for years, commended the department's decision to restore good government and save taxpayer dollars. The union has been working with House lawmakers to introduce a bill this month that would suspend the public-private job competition process and ensure that jobs that are inherently governmental are not outsourced. 

EEOC: TSA Discriminates against Disabled Worker: In another workplace victory for AFGE, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week ruled that the Transportation Security Administration discriminated against a Washington Dulles TSA employee based on disability when the agency removed him from his position four years ago. The Transportation Security Officer has a disability that at the time of his removal required him to use a cane when walking and standing. He was assigned to light duty, but was later transferred to a position that did not require any accommodations. In the annual performance evaluation he received only a few months before he was removed, he was rated 'exceeded the required standards' performing in the new position. After a year, however, TSA told him he could not return to work until his doctor cleared him to work without any restrictions, including a cane. AFGE subsequently filed a complaint with the EEOC on his behalf, charging that TSA discriminated against him because he was disabled. The judge sided with AFGE, ordering TSA to pay the TSO back pay and $150,000 in compensation for his emotional harm. The judge also ordered TSA to train its management and HR team at Dulles on disability rights, and post a notice to all TSA employees at Dulles about the finding and their right to be free from discrimination at the workplace.

New Employee Free Choice TV Ad Launched: Labor unions are ramping up their efforts to garner support in Congress for the pro-worker Employee Free Choice Act by launching another TV commercial entitled "Greed".  The coalition needs 60 senators to overcome a potential filibuster against the bill, which would make it easier for workers to form a union. To view the ad, visit http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAy-ZPWI8RI.

EEOC Overwhelmed by Backlog: While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has lost over one quarter of its employees since 2001, the agency last year received the highest number of discrimination complaints in agency history – over 95,000 new charges. Five years of frozen budgets left the agency and its skeleton crew of 2,174 wondering how it would be able to tackle the pile of cases, which represent workers who believe they have been discriminated against and are still waiting for help. Gabriel Martin, president of AFGE National Council of EEOC Locals, told a House appropriations subcommittee earlier this month that the mushrooming backlog of nearly 74,000 cases must be dealt with because workers are left stranded. By the time an EEOC investigator can get to these cases, witnesses usually have moved on and memories have grown stale. Martin said EEOC needs to raise its staffing ceiling to 3,000, which is the same level as 1994, and Congress next fiscal year should fund the agency at $378 million, the amount originally called for in 2008 by the Senate.

Senators Pressure Army to Stop Outsourcing Study at West Point: Two Democratic senators from New York are joining a growing number of House and Senate lawmakers in calling for a halt to an outsourcing study of more than 300 public works jobs at the military academy at West Point. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote Army Secretary Pete Geren last week asking him to suspend the controversial outsourcing study which has several flaws, including the comparison of different price structures. The senators informed the secretary that they have plans to introduce a measure in the 2010 Defense appropriations bill to stop the privatization review.

"Congress and the President have expressed deep reservation about this process, and we encourage you to place an immediate hold on implementation of this and any other privatization studies until the process can be improved or replaced," said the senators in the April 3 letter to Geren. "We believe that the serious concerns raised by West Point's union [AFGE] warrant reversal to the decision to contract out the long-held jobs of federal employees."

West Point tried to cancel the study a year ago after realizing that internal reorganization would be less disruptive and more likely to yield efficiency and real savings. The Army, however, rejected the proposal from West Point and demanded that the study continue.

AFGE Is Accepting Entries for 2009 Communications Contest: AFGE is now accepting entries for its 2009 Communications Contest in three categories: newsletter, Web site, and social media (blog, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube video). The deadline is June 5, 2009. Awards will be presented at this year's AFGE convention August 24-28, 2009 in Reno, Nevada. The contest recognizes the effort put forth by locals, councils, and districts that take on the very important task of putting together a union newsletter, Web, and/or Social Media site. Please submit your entries to: AFGE Editors Association, Attn: Communications Contest, 80 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. For more information, visit www.afge.org.

Inside Government: Defense Secretary Robert Gates' proposed budget for 2010, which includes an initiative to replace contractors with federal employees, was discussed last week on AFGE's radio show, Inside Government. Mark Gibson, AFGE labor relations specialist, addressed the Pentagon's budget and plan to keep more federal jobs in-house, including a plan to hire 13,000 federal employees to replace contractors in 2010 and up to 39,000 over the next five years. Gibson also discussed how the plan will impact AFGE.

Also appearing on the show was Barbara Palmer, author of "Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections". Palmer addressed the challenges women congressional candidates have faced and overcome throughout the years. Also discussed were issues such as redistricting, media coverage, campaign strategies, and the process for women who run for a congressional seat. Finally, Virginia Hemingway, president of AFGE DoD Local 2433, talked about her fight for domestic partner benefits for federal employees.

Inside Government airs every Friday at 10 a.m. EDT nationwide on www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area. The one-hour program, hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow, discusses issues that impact all federal and D.C. government employees. Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio Web site and can be heard on demand at http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=300 or http://www.afge.org/insidegovernment .
The program also airs on Saturdays at 6 a.m. on News Talk 940 WMAC in Macon, Ga., sponsored by AFGE Local 987, and on Sundays at 9 p.m. on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM in Salt Lake City, sponsored by AFGE Local 1592.

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