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AFGE Week in Review (April 21, 2009) Leading Lawmakers Press OMB to Halt Pay-for-Performance Systems: For the first time, eight chairmen of different House committees and subcommittees have joined forces to put the brakes on the federal government's pay-for-performance systems. In an April 3 letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, the lawmakers asked OMB to put on hold further advancement of any pay-for-performance programs pending governmentwide review. The lawmakers said employees don't trust these systems and fear that the government is just trying to cut long-term personnel costs. These systems also lack transparency and accountability and lead to low morale and discrimination among workers. The lawmakers also questioned the justification for adopting pay-for-performance. They said the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act provided flexibilities for agencies to compete with the private sector for talent while retaining the fairness and transparency of the merit-based civil service system. AFGE Leaders Meet with New EPA Administrator: After eight years of mismanagement at the Environmental Protection Agency, AFGE leaders are optimistic that things will start to turn around after meeting with new EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson last week. AFGE President John Gage, National Secretary-Treasurer J. David Cox, AFGE's EPA Council President Charles Orzehoskie, and Local 3331 President Nate James, representing EPA headquarters employees, discussed with the new administrator a number of issues facing EPA, including the need to reconstitute the National Partnership Council, which used to serve as a forum to promote partnership between management and employees before the anti-employee Bush administration came in. Orzehoskie said after the meeting that Jackson was on board with AFGE on these issues. BOP Issues Are Focus of Gage-Holder Meeting: AFGE President John Gage sat down with Attorney General Eric Holder April 10 to discuss a number of issues of critical concern to AFGE members in the Bureau of Prisons. Some of the issues included staffing, safety issues, key union management problems and the overall management problems in BOP. There will be a follow-up meeting between AFGE, Council President Bryan Lowry, and Justice Department officials who have direct oversight of BOP. Obama, AFGE Honor Farm Workers Union Leader: AFGE last month joined the AFL-CIO in a rally in San Diego to honor Farm Workers founder César Chávez, whose three decades of work led to better wages, benefits, working conditions, and other rights and protections for hundreds of thousands of farm workers. AFGE District 12 National Vice President Eugene Hudson spoke at the six-mile march about the plight of Transportation Security Officers and AFGE's campaign to win collective bargaining rights for them. AFGE National Organizer Joe Diggs also detailed how TSA abuses its workers. The White House joined labor in commemorating Chávez's 82nd birthday. President Obama said in a statement that Chávez's rallying cry, 'Yes We Can', "was more than a slogan, it was an expression of hope and a rejection of those who said farm workers could not organize, and could not take on the growers. Through his courage, Cesar Chavez taught us that a single voice could change our country, and that together, we could make America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation." AFGE Wins Job Back for Phoenix TSO: AFGE recently won a case in which a Phoenix Transportation Security Officer had been wrongfully removed. The Transportation Security Administration's Disciplinary Review Board last month reversed TSA's decision to remove the TSO and reduced his termination to a 14-day suspension. The board also granted the TSO back pay. AFGE Wins Promotion for VA Employee: AFGE last week scored a big win when an arbitrator ruled that a former AFGE local president in Dayton, Ohio, was wrongfully denied a promotion to a GS-7. Doris Randleman, former Local 2209 president who has been a GS-6 for the last 14 years, has applied for dozens of promotions over the years, only to be held back in retaliation for her status as a union officer. The arbitrator, who found that there was hostility toward unions, ordered the agency to grant the promotion and awarded 20 months of back pay to the grievant. Inside Government: Personal finance strategies to help guide federal employees toward financial independence was discussed last week on AFGE's radio show, Inside Government. Karen Blumenthal, author of "The Wall Street Journal Guide to Starting Your Financial Life," discussed personal finance strategies – from tips for young investors to options for those nearing retirement. Blumenthal also addressed ways federal employees can maximize their retirement and benefits packages. Charlotte Flowers, AFGE 5th District national vice president, was also a guest to share her thoughts on the case of Don Siegelman. Siegelman, governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003 who was convicted of bribery in 2006. The case drew national attention as the validity of the charges was questioned, and implications that politics played a part in the prosecution also surfaced. Also appearing on the show was Deborrah Jackson, president of AFGE D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation Local 2741, who discussed the fight to save day care functions within the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. Jackson, who was accompanied by three parents affected by the initiative, explained why day care functions are a vital part of the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation mission. 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 . |
