AFGE Week in Review (July 28, 2009)

AFGE Continues Its Fight to End NSPS: AFGE is intensifying its legislative fight to end the National Security Personnel System after the NSPS review panel recommended keeping the controversial personnel system even though it found that NSPS is deeply flawed and not transparent. The three-member panel's recommendation to "reconstruct" NSPS drew fire from critics including AFGE President John Gage, who said the problems with NSPS are too deep and beyond fixable.

 "The panel diagnosed the disease but failed to provide the cure," Gage said. "It makes no sense to ask the same people who created this failed system to recreate it all over again. It would be a continuation of the same debilitating impact on morale and organizational performance, a continuation of unrest in the workplace, and a waste of scarce resources."

Gage said the union will continue to push for a repeal of NSPS in Congress, where many skeptics share AFGE's concerns. The House last month passed the 2010 Defense Authorization bill with a provision that would end NSPS and move employees back to the General Schedule within a year if no major reforms are made. The Senate version also calls for a repeal of NSPS unless DoD makes improvements.

Arbitrator Rules No Uniforms for Lackland Civilian Employees: AFGE has scored another legal victory when an arbitrator ruled that Air Reserve Technicians (ARTs) at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, don't have to wear uniforms. The Air Force two years ago came up with a new rule requiring all ARTs, who are civilian employees, to wear military uniforms while working civilian jobs at military bases. AFGE filed a lawsuit to prohibit implementation of the policy out of concern that employees would not be able to maintain their civilian employee rights while in military uniform. In many locations, the Air Force agreed not to impose the new uniform requirements pending the outcome of the lawsuit, but managers at some Air Force bases such as Lackland sought to enforce requirements anyway, prompting AFGE Local 1367 to file a grievance. Despite the arbitrator's ruling, Lackland Commander Brig.Gen. John Fobian ordered the current policy to remain in effect pending further review. His order suggests that the Air Force will likely appeal the arbitrator's decision to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.  

"To require civilian defense workers who serve as reservists to wear uniforms and to obliterate their rights is just plain wrong," said AFGE President John Gage. "We will continue to fight to until this policy is reversed."

AFGE President Gage Speaks at Excellence in Government Conference: AFGE President John Gage last week spoke at the Excellence in Government Conference, where several issues were discussed including NSPS and outsourcing. Moderated by Tim Clark, Editor in Chief of Government Executive Magazine, the session initiated an eventful conference day through the debate of several key issues that affect federal government employees. Gage presented compelling arguments against NSPS, advocating that the program is seriously flawed. Panelists also shared their insights and personal experiences with outsourcing.

AFGE Pushes Insourcing: People were scoffing when AFGE started promoting insourcing in 2000. But now insourcing has become one of the most talked about topics in the federal government, thanks to AFGE's persistence and the more employee-friendly Obama administration. The Office of Management and Budget is about to issue insourcing guidance and has sought input from the public on how to best proceed with insourcing. The following are the recommendations sent to OMB July 6 from a coalition of 16 unions including AFGE:

  • Bring back in-house inherently governmental work wrongly outsourced and work closely related to inherently governmental.
  • Redefine "inherently governmental" using definitions found in the 1998 Federal Activities Inventory Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and the AFGE-initiated CLEAN UP Act (S.924 and H.R.2736).
  • Prohibit direct conversions of jobs without competitions.
  • Make sure the A-76 outsourcing process is fair by setting time limits on A-76 studies, ending the automatic 12 percent overhead charge on in-house bids, increasing the minimum cost differential to make outsourcing worthwhile, and creating a system to track cost and quality of work reviewed.
  • Create a process for agencies to reorganize functions as an alternative to the A-76 process.
  • Discourage contractors from treating their workers badly by requiring federal bidders to abide by labor, tax, and environmental laws and provide their employees with appropriate pay and benefits.
  • Allow federal employees to perform new functions which would otherwise go to contract.
  • Require agencies to do insourcing reviews comparable to their outsourcing reviews.
  • Make sure that the federal hiring process facilitates - not hinders - insourcing.
  • Require agencies to establish inventories of service contracts so that they can identify whether contracts are well-performed or should be performed by federal employees.

To view AFGE's full statement on the issue, click on the following link: http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?fuse=content&contentID=1963

Senate Appropriators Renew Governmentwide Ban on A-76: The Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month approved the 2010 Financial Services spending bill with a provision that would renew a government-wide ban on all new A-76 job competitions for the next year. The bill also has a new provision that requires agencies to take inventory of jobs that have been outsourced to determine if they have been improperly contracted out. These provisions were championed by long-time critic of A-76 Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who maintains that the outsourcing process is slanted against federal employees, bad for their morale, and often wastes taxpayer dollars. 

House Bill Blocks Outsourcing at West Point, Other Bases:  In another victory for AFGE, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense recently approved the 2010 Defense appropriations bill with a provision that would cut off funding for all pending A-76 studies in the Defense Department. The measure affects nearly 6,000 jobs at dozens of bases including West Point Academy in New York, where 531 operation and maintenance jobs are slated for outsourcing. The provision was championed by two Democratic lawmakers from New York, Reps. Maurice Hinchey and John Hall, who said the A-76 process has serious flaws that have been well documented by the Government Accountability Office. AFGE praised House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) for his leadership on the issue.

AFGE Blasts VA for Doling out Large Bonuses to Managers: AFGE criticized the Veterans Affairs Department for continuing to offer large bonuses to managers in VA medical facilities and benefits offices while frontline staff struggle with limited resources to meet the growing needs of the nation's veterans.

"The idea that frontline employees have to stretch resources with limited staff, while executives continue to receive large bonuses is mindboggling," said Alma Lee, president of AFGE's National Veterans Affairs Council, which represents 160,000 employees in the VA. "If the VA is serious about recruiting and retaining highly trained and capable staff, it should reinvest in frontline staff, not top level bureaucracy."

AFGE Wins Elections to Represent VA, SSA Employees: AFGE recently won two elections to represent professional employees at the Veterans Affairs Department's Regional Office in North Little Rock, Ark, and non-professionals at Social Security Administration's newly–established National Hearing Center in Albuquerque, N.M. The VA employees will be represented by AFGE Local 2054 and the NHC employees will be represented by AFGE Local 3506.

Inside Government: The critical staffing and funding shortages facing the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) were discussed last week on AFGE's radio show, Inside Government. AFGE Council of Prison Locals Legislative Coordinator Phil Glover, who testified last week before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, detailed the dangerous and increasingly violent situation inside the BOP. From a rise in assaults on correctional officers to the lack of protective equipment and non-lethal weaponry, Glover shed light on what really happens inside the nation's federal prison system.

Listeners also heard from Terry Rosen, AFGE labor relations specialist; Perry Hooks, president of Hooks Book Events; and Jeff Goldman, executive director of government programs for Kaiser Permanente – all attendees at the recent Excellence in Government Conference, produced by the Government Executive Media Group. Rosen discussed flexible working conditions and attracting younger workers to the federal government. Hooks then detailed her mission to bring new ideas into the federal government in order to solve the nation's most pressing issues. Lastly, Goldman provided tips and strategies for federal employees to lead a more active and healthier lifestyle through proper nutrition and exercise.

"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.