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CG Chat Scheduled for Tuesday, December 18^th

The Comptroller General will conduct a CG Chat on Tuesday, December 18, 2007, at 1:15 PM (ET) to discuss a number of topics, including the status of GAO's fiscal year 2008 appropriation and budget. During the Chat, the CG will also provide a general statement regarding the status of annual pay adjustments. Because pay matters are subject to negotiation with the union, the CG will not be answering any questions involving pay. He will, however, answer other questions submitted to the CG Questions mailbox before 5 p.m. ET on Friday, December 14. The union encourages employees to submit questions and asks that those questions be cc'd to ICquestions@ifpte.org. Also if you have a question that you would like to pose to the CG, but would prefer that the union ask the question, send the question to ICquestions@ifpte.org.

Jacqueline Harpp has been designated as the union representative for the meeting and will submit questions sent to the address above.  

The CG Chat will be broadcast on IPTV and shown live in the field via VTC. In addition, it will be rebroadcast on IPTV on December 19 at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m., and 12:00, 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., and subsequently made available as an IPTV On-Demand program.

AAPAS Committee Update

At the invitation of GAO management, African American Performance Assessment Study (AAPAS) Committee members attended two separate one-on-one interviews with PDP Advisors for the study during the week of December 3^rd. The committee has submitted a report to the Interim Council outlining remaining concerns regarding the study timeline, the focus and underlying assumptions of the study, the failure to receive documents outlining the role and contractual agreement between The Ivy Planning Group, Inc. and subcontractors, and the inability of the committee to get a substantive briefing in time to comment on and potentially influence the remaining conduct of the study.

The Interim Council will review the report, consider the recommendations of the committee, and decide on the union’s future role with regard to the study. Committee members include Mary Crenshaw (EWIS), George Duncan (DCM), Angela Pleasants (PDP-Denver), and LaSonya Roberts (FMCI).

Data Committee Update

The Data Committee has submitted a report to the Interim Council outlining its discussions regarding a plan to draft a data request to be submitted to GAO management for the purpose of evaluating the relationship between performance outcomes and certain demographic characteristics. The committee report provides alternative data requests and suggestions for working with IFPTE legal counsel to ensure that issues of employee confidentiality are being fully addressed.

The Interim Council will review the report and consider the future of the project. The Data Committee is headed by Beverly Ross (ARM) and Barry Kirby (FMCI-Chicago) and members include Orlando Copeland (HSJ), Carrie Davidson (HC), Sandra Davis (NRE-Denver), George Duncan (DCM), Rhiannon Patterson (ARM), Jennifer Rellick (HC), and Jerome Sandau (ARM).

Legislative Committee Update

The Legislative Committee was formed to comment on legislative matters that were time critical, prior to having an elected interim council. Working with IFPTE professional staff, the Legislative Committee has responded to Congressional staffs' requests for union input.

The Legislative Committee held a forum “Discussion on Proposed HCIII Legislation, COLAs, and Independence,” on Tuesday, December 11th @ 12:00 noon ET. Matt Biggs, Legislative Director of IFPTE, joined committee members Jacqueline Harpp (EWIS), Ron La Due Lake (ARM), Dan Meyer (EWIS-Chicago), and Henry Sutanto (IT), in a discussion of issues related to recently proposed GAO legislation, including: cost of living (COLA) adjustments; requirements for selecting a GAO IG; and the independence of a GAO IG, the Personnel Appeals Board and the Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness (OOI).

Committee members summarized the response they drafted to the legislation and explained the rationale behind the topics selected and language used in the proposal. Matt Biggs discussed the IFPTE’s work on getting legislative relief for the past denial of COLAs and IFPTE’s general efforts to get legislation passed which would guarantee that all federal employees receive the same COLAs provided to those under the General Schedule regardless of the employee’s pay system.

The following are highlights from the communications that the Legislative Committee has had with the Hill.

GAO Appropriations

• GAO bargaining unit employees should receive the full across-the-board increase (sometimes referred to as a COLA) that is provided to federal employees under the GS system.
• The effective date of the across-the-board increase and other pay increases should be the beginning of the first pay period of the calendar year.
• GAO should determine the number of employees denied across-the-board increases and the monetary amount of the denials for 2006 and 2007.
• Supported the Comptroller General's budget request.

 H.R. 3268 - The Government Accountability Office Act of 2007

The Committee added a new sub-section, 10.1, with provisions that would provide:

• Retroactive compensation for full or partial denials of '06 and '07 across-the-board increases.
• Permanent fix to the annual across-the-board increases, by providing the same increase as provided under the GS system.
• Bring GAO's locality pay in line with locality pay under the GS system.
• Require that across-the-board increases and locality pay adjustments be
• effective at the beginning of the first pay period in January.
• Require that the across the board increases apply to the pay for performance calculations and adjustments.
• Ensure that all Band II employees are paid at least the equivalent of GS-13 step 1 rate for their locality.
• Suggested that permanently placed PDP should receive at least the GS-12 step 1 rate.

The Committee commented on pay-related provisions in the legislation, including:

• A provision to keep some GAO staff from needing to file the Senate financial disclosure form. The provision would be moot because of the new provision we added that would explicitly identify locality pay (and make it at least as high as the GS system locality pay) and therefore reduce amount of compensation subject to the reporting requirement.
• Supporting a provision to raise the pay cap on Band III employees as long as: (1) it does not negatively affect the pool of monies for bargaining unit employees; and (2) that the speed bump for Band IIB employees and the pay cap for Band IIA employees be removed, resulting in one pay range for all Band II employees.
• Supporting a provision that would include non-permanent-based pay toward the calculation of the "high 3" for purposes of calculating pensions. We expressed concern about using nonpermanent pay in lieu of permanent pay, but to the extent that there is non-permanent pay it should also be used to calculate other benefits, such as FEGLI coverage and the basis for the agency's contribution to TSP accounts.

We also commented on provisions regarding:

• the independence of the GAO inspector general and safeguards and protections to ensure staff confidentiality and guard against GAO management reprisal against staff;
• reimbursement of audit costs;
• additional authority for hiring consultants and experts;
• voluntary separation incentive payments;
• reorganization of the Personnel Appeals Board;
• reorganization of the Office of Opportunity and Inclusiveness; and
• transparency and accountability provisions, adding that GAO should make data available to the union upon request.

Subsequent to providing the above comments on H.R. 3268, the Committee obtained a request to review a proposal to have the PAB member appointment and removal be independent of the Comptroller General. The Committee communicated to the Hill support for PAB member appointment and removal by Congressional leadership, rather than by the Comptroller General. They also communicated that they would like to have the PAB General Counsel's appointment and removal by Congressional leadership. In addition, the Committee stressed that the PAB should operate with a full 5 member board and that there should be explicit reporting and oversight of the PAB's activities.

These highlight are part of the report the Committee submitted to the Interim Council. The Council will study the recommendations of the report and use it to help formulate bargaining proposals in consultation with the bargaining unit.

EAC Survey Deadline Extended to Today

The deadline for completing the GAO employee survey requested by Chairman Danny Davis of the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia was extended to December 14^th.  To recap, all non-SES GAO employees were emailed a survey on November 15, 2007 asking for their views on the impact of personnel legislation on GAO operations. The Employee Advisory Council (EAC) was asked to administer the survey and to report the results directly to Chairman Davis. The Comptroller General (CG) was not involved in developing the survey and will not be involved in the analysis of the survey results.

This is a unique opportunity to provide feedback to a Congressional Oversight Committee Chair. Also, your views will help IFPTE as it works with the Hill on the proposed HCIII legislation.

The following individuals were involved with the development and administration of the survey: Elizabeth (Betsy) Morris (DCM-Norfolk) at (757) 552-8126; Bev Ross (ARM) at (202) 512-4872; or Nellie Shamlin (PDP) at (202) 512-5208.

Get Active Action Center - Give the IFPTE Feedback

As we get more volunteers, we have better ideas. To assist Analysts in advancing their rights and representation within GAO, we have developed an advocacy tool to allow Analysts to send feedback on local union governance matters. GAO Analysts are encouraged to sign up for the Action Center if they haven't already done so at www.unionvoice.org/gaoanalysts/home.html .

The weekly Communiqué is a joint effort of the members of the volunteer members of the Communications Committee: John Bumgarner (DCM-Norfolk), Angela Pleasants (PDP-Denver), Rod Rodgers (DCM), Kathryn Smith (DCM), and Committee Co-Chairs Shaunessye Curry (HC-Chicago) and Regina Santucci (EWIS).