• Interim Council Meetings Open to Bargaining Unit Members
• Union Testifies Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee
• Update on H.R. 5683 (The Government Accountability Office Act of 2008)  
• Volunteers Needed
• Call for Contributions
• Union Contacts
• Get Active Action Center – Give the IFPTE Feedback
• DISCLAIMER  

Interim Council Meetings Open to Bargaining Unit Members

Did you know you can attend Interim Council meetings, either in-person or by telephone?  Did you know the Interim Council meeting agenda allows time for bargaining unit members to provide input and feedback to the council?  During the April 30^th Interim Council meeting, a process—Open Forum—was approved that affords bargaining unit members an opportunity to address the council during the first 15 minutes of each meeting (see  www.gaoanalysts.org/Downloads/Minutes/04_30_08.pdf for details). 

The Interim Council created this process to provide a way for bargaining unit members to raise issues or concerns they have directly to the council.  Bargaining unit members may address the Interim Council in person or by submitting a comment or question that will be raised during the meeting. Bargaining unit members who would like to participate in the Open Forum are encouraged to advise one of the officers of the Interim Council listed below. 

Additionally, bargaining unit members can also observe the entire Interim Council meeting (unless it goes into executive session).  Please note that personal, non-work time must be used for attending Interim Council meetings (as it is for Council members).  If you cannot attend in person, a dial-in number can be provided.  Because of the limited number of telephone lines available, and because these lines have been reserved for Interim Council field representatives, field office bargaining unit members should contact their field representative or another member of the Interim Council to make arrangements for attending. Interim Council meetings take place every Wednesday in room 2T59 from 3:30 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. ET, unless otherwise noted.  So, if bargaining unit members would like to see the Interim Council at work or would like to share issues or concerns, we invite you to the Interim Council meetings and to participate in the Open Forum. 

Interim Council officers to contact regarding participating in IC meetings:

Ron La Due Lake, Chair (ARM)

Dan Meyer, Vice-Chair (Chicago)

Lise Levie, Secretary (EWIS)

Union Testifies Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee

On Wednesday, May 7, 2008, Ron La Due Lake, Interim Council Chair testified before the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, on the status of GAO’s Employee Organization and its relationship with GAO management, appropriate funding for GAO to better manage its increasing workload demands, the Government Accountability Office Act of 2008 (H.R. 5683), and other related topics (www.gaoanalysts.org/Downloads/On%20The%20Hill/GEO2T_080507_statement.pdf).  Mr. La Due Lake was among 10 witnesses, including the Congressional Research Employees Association.  The subcommittee’s Chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz thanked Mr. La Due Lake for his testimony and inquired about the working relationship between the new GAO leadership and the GAO Union.  Mr. La Due Lake stated that he was encouraged by Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro’s commitment to work with the representatives of the Union and mentioned Mr. Dodaro’s reaffirmation of his commitment during a recent meeting with Interim Council members.  The subcommittee Chair said that she would follow up with Mr. Dodaro to ensure a continuous effort for good labor-management relations.

Update on H.R. 5683 (The Government Accountability Office Act of 2008)  

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform completed its mark-up of H.R. 5683 (The Government Accountability Office Act of 2008) and favorably reported the bill to the full House May 1, 2008. The Legislative Committee, Interim Council Officers, and some Interim Council members met with GAO management on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 to discuss H.R. 5683 and GAO’s Budget request for Fiscal Year 2009.  GAO management talked about changes that had been made to the language of the bill, notably, for the bargaining unit, a section was added that states that any partial performance based compensation not received in 2006 would be included in the lump-sum payment and included in the computation of the high three years for retirement purposes.  The bill still requires that employees be on-board at the time of enactment to receive payment under the legislation, but management stated that employees need not delay career decisions beyond the date of enactment.  Management encouraged employees to follow the legislation’s progress as it makes its way through the full House vote and through the Senate committees and offered to help respond to any questions employees might have. 

Volunteers Needed

We are looking for volunteers (HQ and Field Offices) to help develop and bring together the weekly Band Together COMMUNIQUÉ.  We need your help, even if you have not been involved in Union organizing to this point. The volunteers selected must be in the GAO bargaining unit and must be able to:

• meet (on phone or in-person) with the other Communique volunteers, using personal, non-work time, during business and non-business hours;
• work cooperatively toward the goal of ensuring effective communications among bargaining unit members;
• deal with private and sensitive information, and
• meet deadlines.

If interested, please send a paragraph explaining your interest by Monday, May 19^th at 6 p.m. (ET) to Lesia Mandzia (HC).  Communique volunteers will serve at least until a permanent Union structure is in place.

Call for Communiqué Contributions

If you are scheduling a meeting or have an announcement that would be of interest to the bargaining unit, please forward the information to Lesia Mandzia (HC) or Lise Levie (EWIS) by 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 15^th, for inclusion in the next edition of the Communique.

Union Contacts

If you have questions or comments, or need assistance from the Union, please email your Interim Council representative (listed below).  You can also send questions and comments to ICquestions@gaoanalysts.org.