AFGE Week in Review (Oct.1, 2009)

NSPS Employees to Get 100% GS Raise in 2010: Defense employees working under the controversial National Security Personnel System and rated above "unacceptable" will receive the same raise as those covered by the General Schedule system next year. Currently, these workers receive only 60 percent of the GS raise because the Defense Department allocates the rest to the pay pools. The announcement comes as AFGE is pressuring the administration to ditch the program and its notoriously unfair, non-transparent pay pool process. NSPS was criticized by employees, managers, and most recently the Defense Business Board, which said the system was too broken to fix and recommended that DoD rebuild the system from scratch. The board did the study on NSPS after AFGE made a request to then presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Congress OKs Stopgap Bill to Keep Government Running Through Oct. 31: The Senate this week passed a continuing resolution to keep agencies operating at their fiscal 2009 levels until Oct. 31, 2009 as Congress wasn't able to complete work on the 12 appropriations bills by the end of this fiscal year, which was Sept. 30. The House approved the continuing resolution last week. Under the bill, the Census Bureau and the Veterans Affairs Department would receive additional funding: the VA would get $44.3 billion, a $3.85 billion increase over the 2009 level, and the Census Bureau would receive $7.1 billion, which is $3.87 billion more than 2009. The bill would allow the Postal Service to reduce a payment designed to prefund retiree health benefits. The bill also would extend authorizations through Oct. 31, 2009, for certain programs that would otherwise expire, including:

  • Intelligence programs and counter-drug activities
  • Guantanamo Bay restrictions
  • Stop-loss payments to U.S. troops
  • Child nutrition programs
  • Surface and aviation transportation programs
  • Housing programs, including the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, the Government National Mortgage Association, HOPE VI, and FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgages at a slightly reduced formula
  • Flood insurance and pre-disaster mitigation programs
  • Religious worker, physician, and investor visa programs
  • E-verify
  • The Chemical Facility Security Program
  • The Ryan White Program

The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.

Health Insurance Premiums to Go up 8.8%: AFGE issued the following statement on the premium increase:

"The American Federation of Government Employees expresses grave concern at the announcement by the Office of Personnel Management that premiums under FEHBP would be rising by an average of 8.8% in 2010.

Lost in the announced average is the fact that for 60% of the enrollees in FEHBP, those covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield Standard Option, their premiums will be going up by 15% for self coverage and 12% for family coverage. To add insult to injury, enrollees will not only have to pay much higher premiums, they will have to pay a higher share of premiums, as FEHBP's formula allows the government to shift an increasing share of costs onto enrollees every time a plan's premiums go up by more than the average. In 2010, the government will pay just 67% of the standard option's family premium, down from 69% last year.

Already we know that tens of thousands of full time federal employees do not participate in FEHBP and are not covered by another source. This increase will make it impossible for lower-paid workers to achieve the health security they need. Although the Obama Administration was not in office to negotiate with the insurance carriers for the 2010 contract year, AFGE intends to work closely with them to ensure that negotiations with the carriers will produce far better results for 2011. Controlling costs for federal employees under FEHBP can only be done in the context of passing health care reform which includes a Medicare-style public option to keep private insurance honest."

AFGE Congratulates Newly-Elected AFL-CIO Officers: AFGE congratulates AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Secretary Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler and Executive Vice President Arlene Holt-Baker for their historic election Sept. 16 to lead the federation of 57 national and international labor unions.

"While bringing new knowledge and new perspective to the AFL-CIO, Rich Trumka, Arlene Holt Baker and Liz Shuler bring years of experience to the table that will help usher in a new era for labor," said AFGE President John Gage. "Having known Richard Trumka, Liz Shuler and Arlene Holt Baker for years, I know they have the ability and skills to strengthen and unify America's labor movement in the coming years. AFGE welcomes the new AFL-CIO executive team."

Gage and National Vice President Roy Flores also were elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council which guides the work of the 11.5 million member federation. The AFL-CIO Executive Council consists of a chief officer of each affiliated union and the trade and industrial departments created by the AFL-CIO constitution and four regional representatives of the state federations.

AFL-CIO Singles out AFGE's TSA Campaign at Pittsburgh Convention: During his Sept. 16 acceptance speech at the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, newly-elected AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka singled out AFGE's campaign to win workplace rights for Transportation Security Administration employees, saying AFGE has the backing of the AFL-CIO and its 11.5 million members in the union's effort to organize TSA employees.

"Right now, 40,000 TSA employees are on the verge of winning their collective bargaining rights. Our sisters and brothers in AFGE are going to organize them, and Brother John Gage [AFGE president], I want you to know that the AFL-CIO will stand with them until every last one of those TSA employees are organized," Trumka said to a big applause and cheering crowd.

Trumka's speech comes as the powerful AFL-CIO is moving forward with the campaign to bring unionism to every worker in the country including TSOs, and to "see that every worker who wants a union contract gets a union contract" – as Trumka put it. AFGE has been affiliated with the AFL-CIO since AFGE was founded in 1932.

Long Beach VA Employee Reinstated: AFGE recently won a case in which a respiratory therapist at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs hospital was unjustly removed. The judge overturned the removal and ordered the agency to reinstate the employee to his position with back pay plus interest after the judge found that the charges brought against the employee as grounds for removal were unsubstantiated. The agency appealed the initial decision, but it was recently upheld by the Merit Systems Protection Board. The decision to reinstate the employee with back pay is now final. The employee is a member of AFGE Local 1203. AFGE Legal Rights Attorney Mike Pazder handled the case.

Inside Government: The need for stronger whistleblower protections for federal employees was addressed last week on AFGE's radio show, Inside Government. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) Executive Director Danielle Brian highlighted efforts to protect federal employees who report waste, fraud, and abuse in the workplace. Brian also discussed resources available for federal whistleblowers and legislation designed to protect them. Also appearing on the show were AFGE Legislative Representative Charity Wilson and Paul F. Clark, author of Building More Effective Unions. Wilson addressed President Obama's nomination of Erroll Southers as the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Assistant Secretary. Wilson also discussed TSA's misguided pay-for-performance system, which she calls "a gigantic slap in the face to TSOs." Clark then discussed methods to strengthen labor unions through communication, member orientation and socialization, and organizing. Clark, who serves as the head of Penn State University's Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, also shared his thoughts on ways to reach younger workers.

Inside Government, hosted by AFGE Assistant General Counsel J. Ward Morrow, is a one-hour weekly nationwide radio/Internet program dedicated to issues that impact federal and D.C. government employees. The show airs each Friday at 10 a.m. on Federal News Radio 1500 AM in Washington, D.C. and online at www.federalnewsradio.com. 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 is available via iTunes podcast by clicking here. Users must install iTunes on their computers before accessing "Inside Government" via podcast. Listeners also can follow the program on Facebook ("AFGE Inside Government") and Twitter (afgeradioshow). For more information, please e-mail InsideGovernment@afge.org or go to www.federalnewsradio.com.