Posts tagged official time
Commentary: With Unions, the Numbers Tell the Story
February 5, 2024 // Public sector unions’ hold on government employees isn’t a lock. State legislatures can pass laws that rein in unionization and membership recruitment and protect employees. States can choose a different path by, for example, ending artificial union subsidies and requiring union executives to prove their value to employees. States can follow Florida’s lead: Last year, the Sunshine State ended union payroll deductions and doubled down on recertification, forcing unions to demonstrate actual support from membership to remain in power.
GOP senators press for report on ‘official time’ use by federal unions
December 19, 2023 // An agency spokesperson said in a statement to Federal Times that “previous reports on official time are not currently available because OPM is reorganizing our website to improve navigation and customer experience.” The Wayback Machine, an internet archive site, indicates the last time these reports were accessible on the web page was in July. OPM did not say when it would make an updated report publicly available. Official time Unions have said official time is an essential protected resource that allows them to be effective and timely when defending employees who have been discriminated against. It also help resolve issues before they balloon into more complicated conflicts, they say.
White House scrubs webpage showing how taxpayers fund union activities
November 22, 2023 // The OPM, which oversees federal employment and recruiting, removed both the webpage and reports assembled over the past two decades analyzing how much taxpayer money is spent funding union activities. Additionally, OPM appears to have stopped assembling official time reports, which have historically been published every few years during the past four presidential administrations since 1998. "If federal employees are going to be legally permitted to engage in union work while on-the-clock, the very least taxpayers are owed is an accurate accounting of the associated costs," Maxford Nelsen, the director of research and government affairs at free market think tank Freedom Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
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.
Union and Alaska Army Posts Resolve Differences Over Official Time and Illegal Contract, But Other Fights Remain
May 22, 2023 // Management at three U.S. Army installations in Alaska this month agreed to unwind the unilateral imposition of Trump-era caps on official time as well as an entirely new contract for a pair of union locals representing civilian workers at the forts. But labor leaders bemoaned continued resistance to implementing President Biden’s executive orders rescinding Trump-era labor policies and mandating federal agencies establish a collaborative relationship with their unions.
VA and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Reach Tentative Agreement to Better Serve Veterans and Support VA Employees
April 12, 2023 // This tentative agreement follows three key agreements VA made with the National Federation of Federal Employees in February. Over the past two years, VA has taken several critical steps to support bargaining unit employees, including 1) reestablishing the National Partnership Council, a forum for open communication between labor leaders and VA leadership; 2) restoring official time for Doctors, Nurses, Physician Assistants, and other Title 38 employees, meaning that these employees can use work hours to advocate on behalf of their bargaining unit coworkers; 3) reestablishing yearly and Semi-Annual Labor Management meetings with VA union partners; and 4) including the unions pre-decisionally in critical employee-centric decisions, such as the creation of the VHA REBOOT Task Force to address employee burnout.
National Right to Work Foundation Urges TX Supreme Court to Nix Scheme Directing Taxpayer Funds to Union Boss Activities
March 6, 2023 // Landmark Janus Decision Shows How Union Bosses Use “Official Time” to Prop Up Union Politics The Foundation points out in its amicus brief the Janus Court’s holding that union monopoly bargaining activities “constitute speech and petitioning on matters of political…concern,” and that by funneling taxpayer money into such speech “the City is effectively paying individuals to lobby the City for a private advocacy organization and its members.” “The notion that this political advocacy predominantly serves a public purpose, as opposed to predominantly benefiting the private organization, is untenable,” the brief reads.
The Michigan Education Association Improperly Took COVID-19 Relief Funds
March 6, 2023 // “The Michigan Education Association applied for money intended for struggling businesses during the height of the pandemic,” said Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “The union and MESSA obtained some of the largest PPP loans in the country. They took these funds, for which they were clearly ineligible, while shuttered restaurants, stores, other businesses and their workers struggled to stay afloat.” Private businesses and some nonprofits were eligible for the loans, but 501(c)(5) and 501(c)(9) organizations, like the MEA and MESSA, were clearly prohibited from receiving PPP funds. The Mackinac Center was eligible as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, but did not apply for assistance. In April 2020, the MEA and MESSA both applied for PPP funding. The MEA received $6.4 million while MESSA received a $6.1 million loan. Officials of both organizations certified that they had read the eligibility requirements of the program and asserted they were eligible for the loans. Money from the program ran out within weeks. While the union and MESSA eventually returned the improper funds in December 2020, taking them in the first place denied eligible businesses from receiving them.
National Right to Work Foundation Urges TX Supreme Court to Nix Scheme Directing Taxpayer Funds to Union Boss Activities
March 3, 2023 // The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has just submitted an amicus brief in Roger Borgelt v. City of Austin, a case before the Texas Supreme Court. The case challenges a scheme in which the City of Austin directs taxpayer dollars to Austin Firefighters Association (IAFF) union officials to conduct union business on so-called “official time.” The petitioners, including the State of Texas, maintain that this arrangement violates the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clauses, which forbid payouts of taxpayer funds that do not serve a legitimate public purpose. The case is currently on appeal from the Texas Third Court of Appeals.
DeSantis stands up for teachers
February 10, 2023 // The governor’s proposal, dubbed a Teacher’s Bill of Rights, draws clear boundary lines between the interests of teachers and the interests of teachers unions. The proposal restores the rights of taxpayers and teachers, who don’t always support union politics. For example, DeSantis’s proposal would end the practice of union dues being deducted directly from teachers’ paychecks — a process undertaken at taxpayers’ expense. And the governor’s proposal would prohibit union officials from doing union work while on the clock for their taxpayer-funded job. Known as “release time,” the paid workday hours that public employees spend doing union work can add up. In Miami-Dade County alone, public employees spent 132,433 on-the-clock hours doing union work between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019, according to a James Madison Institute report. Those hours cost taxpayers more than $4 million. The governor has also taken aim at so-called “zombie unions,” which lack adequate documented support from the teachers they claim to represent.