AFGE Week in Review (June 10, 2009)

AFGE Launches New Web Site, Billboards to Call for New Leadership at SSA: The American Federation of Government Employees last week launched a new Web site at www.preserveyoursocialsecurity.com and two billboards near Social Security Administration headquarters to stress the need for new leadership at the poorly-managed agency. AFGE President John Gage said SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue has adopted policies that hurt the very people the agency is supposed to protect and the American public needs to know about it. Astrue, for example, has tried to reduce the hours SSA field offices are open to the public and has closed a record number of field offices in 2007. He also issued a directive for SSA employees to aggressively steer applicants - despite their age or disability - to use computers and the Internet to file their claims even though they may not understand all the laws involved and might need face-to-face assistance. These actions raise serious questions about Astrue’s ability to carry out President Obama’s mandates to improve SSA’s ability to serve the public through significant new investments in the agency.

Defense Employees Urged to Submit NSPS Comments: AFGE is asking Defense employees to write comments to the task force recently formed to review the National Security Personnel System about their individual experiences and problems with to the controversial personnel system. The three-member task group will hold two public meetings on June 25-26 at the Hyatt Arlington in Virginia. The panel on June 25 will hear testimony from AFGE, DoD, and other experts who have testified before Congress on NSPS. It will discuss public comments on June 26. Comments are accepted through June 26, but those received by June 18 will be considered in determining who will be invited to testify on June 26. Your comments are very important. They must be mailed to the following address:

Defense Business Board

ATTN: Ms. Phyllis Ferguson

2521 South Clark Street, Room 650

Arlington, VA 22202

The task group only accepts comments through regular snail mail. Please send a copy of your comments to AFGE at rosent@afge.org or AFGE 80 F. Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001.

AFGE to Hold Press Conference Calling for Full Funding and Staffing at BOP: AFGE is holding a press conference on June 11 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to detail the dangers of working in a federal prison. AFGE President John Gage and AFGE's Council of Prison Locals President Bryan Lowry will call for full funding and staffing for federal prisons; stab resistant vests and non-lethal weapons such as batons, pepper spray and TASER guns for correctional officers; and a new director of the Bureau of Prisons. AFGE will also discuss a new report by BOP on the events that led to the death of federal correctional officer Jose Rivera at the United States Penitentiary in Atwater, Calif., in June last year.

House Passes Paid Parental Leave Bill: The House last week passed an AFGE-backed bill that would give federal employees – both men and women – four weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. Currently, employees who are new parents can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave.

Bill Introduced to Suspend Outsourcing Studies, Bring Outsourced Work In-House: An AFGE-backed bill that would suspend the job competition process and encourage insourcing was introduced in the House last week. The Correction of Longstanding Errors in Agencies' Unsustainable Procurements Act was introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and was cosponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 50 lawmakers.

"This bill is about good government," said Rep. Sarbanes in a letter to his colleagues seeking co-sponsors of the bill. "Over the last decade, we have been much too quick to outsource many of government's most basic functions to the private sector. The desire to do so reflected a political ideology of shrinking government at all costs – even if it meant diminishing the quality of certain government services that are paid for and overwhelmingly supported by American taxpayers." 

The CLEAN UP Act is part of AFGE's years-long fight to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in contracting out. The Senate version of the bill was introduced in April by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. AFGE has launched an insourcing campaign to raise awareness among AFGE Locals and members to push their agencies to bring contracted out jobs back in-house. For more information about the campaign, contact John Threlkeld at threlj@afge.org off the worksite and off duty. 

AFGE Applauds Julia Clark's Nomination as FLRA General Counsel: AFGE congratulated Julia Clark, who has been nominated by the White House for the position of General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Clark began her career nearly three decades ago as a trial attorney for the Justice Department in the Special Regulated Industries Section. However, for the past 20 years, she has worked as the International Federal of Professional Technical Engineers'(IFPTE) general counsel and counsel for federal and legislative affairs where she represents workers before the FLRA, National Labor Relations Board, the National Mediation Board, and the Personnel Appeals Board of the Government Accountability Office.

AFGE Congratulates Ernie DuBester for Nomination as FLRA Member: AFGE applauded the White House's decision to nominate Ernie DuBester to fill the vacant position of the member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. DuBester began his career at the National Labor Relations Board, principally drafting decisions that applied and interpreted the National Labor Relations Act – the law on which the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute is modeled. In between his tenures at the National Labor Relations Board and the National Mediation Board, DeBester served as legislative counsel to the AFL-CIO, a distinguish professor of law at George Mason University School of Law and as an adjunct professor at the Catholic University School of Law.

Inside Government: A new task force designed to review the Defense Department's controversial NSPS was discussed last week on AFGE's radio show, "Inside Government." Rudy deLeon, head of the new NSPS task force, talked about the task force's objectives and when the public can expect to learn of its recommendations. DeLeon also addressed the importance of attracting and retaining skilled civilian workers to the Pentagon.

The show also took listeners inside the recent America's Future Now conference by the Campaign for America's Future. Hear from Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rock the Vote Executive Director Heather Smith, and Alliance for American Manufacturing Executive Director Scott Paul. Norton updated listeners on the fight for D.C. voting rights and efforts to reform health care in America. Smith then discussed Rock the Vote's impact on the 2008 presidential election and the need to communicate with young people in a way they understand. Lastly, Paul shared his thoughts on American manufacturing including industrial policy and the role unions play in solving problems in the workplace.

"Inside Government" - hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow - airs on Fridays at 10 a.m. EDT nationwide on Federal News Radio at www.federalnewsradio.com and 1500 AM in the Washington, D.C., area. Programs are archived on the Federal News Radio Web site and can be heard on demand at http://www.federalnewsradio.com or http://www.afge.org/insidegovernment. Please note there will be a short advertisement prior to the start of the program. The program also airs on Saturdays at 7 a.m. on KTKK 630 AM, "The Voice of Utah," in Ogden, Utah sponsored by AFGE Local 1592. For more information, please e-mail InsideGovernment@afge.org or go to www.federalnewsradio.com.