Posts tagged Department of Veterans Affairs
Commentary: To Unions, Organizing Time Is Fine When It’s on the Taxpayers’ Dime
June 29, 2023 // Despite public sector unions, and particularly teachers’ unions like Weingarten’s American Federation for Teachers, facing mounting scrutiny for their role in school closures and broader left-wing political activism, the practice of release time has garnered little attention.
The biggest federal employee union expands its international presence
April 20, 2023 // Some 10,000 federal employees working in Europe will soon be eligible for the American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE has launched a new local, as it expands coverage. Tom Temin And what are the timelines and schedules here? When does this election take place? When does it get certified? And how long will this all take? Peter Winch Well, we would hope to file for an election Defense Health Agency continent-wide. And we have a new logo, which is based on our U.S. logo with the map of Europe. And we have a new card for people to fill out if they want to have an election at their workplace. And if they contact AFGE, and we’re getting a lot of contacts, they can join by what we call E-dues. So I work for District 14, we have Local 14 and the dues are $14. If you’re an at large member, and if we succeed in these elections, it’ll be $20 and you get all the benefits of membership then.
White House tells agencies to strike a balance between telework, in-office work
April 14, 2023 // “Today, the public is often dissatisfied with government services when compared against the private sector,” OMB said. “Agencies must ensure that all services, including public facing services, continue to meet and exceed customer expectations and needs.” Federal telework policy is up to each agency and based on individual situations. Agencies have the discretion to allow telework depending on their mission and business needs. The new guidance from the White House gained some early pushback. Federal unions and agency chief human capital officers were reportedly left out of the process of putting together the OMB memo.
The House Passes a Bill to Give VA Medical Employees Greater Union Rights
December 20, 2022 // The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant medical professionals the right to bargain over scheduling and official time, and to file grievances over pay disputes. Physicians, dentists, registered nurses and physician assistants at the VA are hired under Title 38 of the U.S. Code, which prohibits collective bargaining over care and competency issues, as determined by the department’s secretary. During the Trump administration, that exception to collective bargaining was vastly expanded—and labor leaders and Democrats say, exploited—to include issues such as shift scheduling. Then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie used it to ban Title 38 union officials from accessing official time altogether.
Union arbitrators are protecting truly awful government employees
October 10, 2022 // Federal personnel challenges go beyond the civil service system. Federal unions are also a big part of the problem. The government was not supposed to operate this way. Congress expressly directed agencies not to tolerate misconduct and to fire poor performers. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 even made these directives “Merit System Principles.” But agencies come nowhere close to upholding these principles. Barely a third of federal employees say their agencies remove employees whose performance is persistently poor. Half report poor performers stay on the job and continue to underperform.
Federal unions have a way to locate unrepresented employees, OPM says
August 22, 2022 // The Office of Personnel Management has offered some extra help to federal unions looking to add eligible employees to their membership rosters. Federal unions have tools available in FedScope, OPM’s online federal employee database, to identify which agencies have the largest amounts of unrepresented workers, said Tim Curry, OPM’s deputy associate director for accountability and workforce relations, in an email obtained by Federal News Network. On the other hand, the departments of Education, Energy, Labor, State and Treasury, as well as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, were among the agencies with the lowest numbers of unrepresented workers. The most recent data available in FedScope is from March 2022. NFFE National President Randy Erwin,
VA workers union ‘hammering away’ at negotiations for first new contract in 10 years
June 21, 2022 // The articles touch on protections from employee disciplinary action and separation, the allocation of awards and the elimination of supplemental agreements for local unions. The American Federation of Government Employees National Veterans Affairs Council so far discussed four articles, two of which are in contention: discipline and awards. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis McDonough, Thomas Dargon, health care, law enforcement, research, mechanics, corrections,
SEIU DROPS ITS FRONT IN UNIONIZING STARBUCKS
March 7, 2022 // Proponents had insisted that the movement, which now extends to 103 stores, was a homespun phenomenon arising spontaneously throughout the chain’s domestic arm. The narrative held that the baristas-turned-organizers were union neophytes who discovered they shared a desire to have more say on the brand’s direction and store operations, without any choreography from an outside labor force. Few reports even mentioned that the activist employees were receiving advice or financial support from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) through its Workers United affiliate.
Colonial Williamsburg workers rally for better wages, working conditions
December 4, 2021 // Colonial Williamsburg hospitality workers came together Saturday afternoon to rally for better working conditions. Saturday afternoon 100 Colonial Williamsburg workers from the hotels and restaurants in the Historic District area rallied together on the Northwest corner of S. England Street and Newport Avenue.