From Government Executive:
A panel tasked with resolving contract disputes between agencies and federal employee unions sided with management at the Social Security Administration on several key issues, gutting official time and telework rights for union employees at the agency.
In a May 29 decision, the Federal Service Impasses Panel weighed in on 12 proposed articles of a new contract between SSA and the American Federation of Government Employees. The panel asserted jurisdiction over the matters after labor and management officials negotiated for seven months on a new collective bargaining agreement, eventually coming to agreement on more than 50 provisions.
The panel gave a green light to a proposal by Social Security officials that would significantly reduce the amount of official time AFGE employees can spend on representational duties. According to the agency, the union used “roughly” 181,181 hours of official time during fiscal 2018, which officials said cost nearly $10.5 million. The agency proposed a “bank” for the union as a whole at 50,000 hours of official time per fiscal year, with individual employees capped at between 250 and 650 hours per year, and said it “is seeking to eliminate official time ‘loopholes.’ ”The Federal Service Impasses Panel is entirely composed of Republicans. The union is livid.
11 comments:
Ban unions in tax payer funded work. Don't like it get a job somewhere else. Why should we pay someone to not work the job we are paying them to do 250 to 650 hours a year. 4 months!!! C'om on man!!!
@8:50
In regard to why we should pay for union representatives, pretty much it comes down to what sort of relationship the agency wants to have with their workers and the level of quality they can expect. As you say, if the employees do not like it, they can go elsewhere. They will. Because public sector jobs actually do not pay particularly well, they rely on benefits to draw employees in. Unions protect those benefits. So, if you do not have decent pay, and do not have benefits, why bother?
Don't get too upset its kind of a fake union. Remember its illegal to strike and the union can't negotiate pay, congress sets pay so whats the point.
9:10 you seriously think they are not going to pay and provided benefits to federal employees at SSA? Seriously?
@4:30
You seriously think I said that? Seriously?
The decision by the FSIP, all Trump Appointees, is an absolute disaster for SSA employees, and Federal Employees generally. Many years of Collective Bargaining negotiation agreements, repeated renewals of the agreements via MOU’s, concerning myriad issues which affect employee/workforce morale, thrown down the toilet with a quick stroke of a pen. SSA Management requested the FSIP very early on in the process by refusing to negotiate on steadfast issues present in the Collective Bargaining contracts and MOU’s for many years because they knew all the FSIP members are Trump Appointees, and that the Trump Administration policies, e.g., EO’s, dismantling of OPM and moving it to the White House, refusal to adequately staff the MSPB and EEOC and appropriately process cases, etc., s anti-worker/labor in every respect. Trump, and many of his crony Cabinet Appointees, all have a long, very well documented history of anti-worker/labor bias.
SSA Management markedly deteriorated in recent years, largely due to the influx of Operations Folks who moved over to Hearings and Appeals with the ro out of HPI in 2001. Many were not Attorneys, knew nothing about running Hearings and Appeals, and undertook to run the Hearings and Appeals offices like sweatshops, imposing ridiculous quotas on professionals, particularly ALJ’s and Attorneys, on cases that cannot be objectively quantified, all the while pretending to care about quality and due process for claimants. These individuals were/are devoid of progressive, modern workforce management methods, and managed with methods from a bygone era. Many detested Telework, and believed they could not manage unless they could see a$$es in seats at all times.
Before all this happened with the roll out of HPI in 2001, the Hearings Offices and Appeals Council, were much more collegial, and better run with trained Attorneys. Employee/workforce morale was very important, and SSA took pride in offering flexi-place/telework, flex-time, credit hours, sick and annual leave that could be used when needed without punishment, etc.
When Trump became POTUS, the bygone era former Operations Managers saw an opportunity to clean the slate, destroy decades of Collective Bargaining negotiations and things many employees admired about working for SSA. Some old geezers even returned to capitalize on the gravy train created by the chaos of the Trump Administration, and drew full Annuities in addition to full salaries. They were also given access to planes, travel expenses, and allowed to remotely work across the country from Falls Church and Baltimore. This had nothing to do with institutional knowledge and experience.. So, SSA has been way over staffed with Managers at every level, and the vast majority of these individuals are recalcitrant to progressive, modern management methods and dragged the Hearings and Appeals portion of SSA into the gutter.
What has happened at SSA is an absolute travesty for its employees. Even though the Agency and Union agreed to FSIP Arbitration years ago, SSA Management engaged in unprecedented Bad Faith negotiations here, and I encourage the Union and SSA employees seek Congressional investigations and Hearings into this matter. Otherwise, you can bet NTEU and AALJ Union negotiations will go the same way, as well as across the Board for every other Federal Agency. I only hop SSA Hearings and Appeals Offices will one day return to the collegiate work environment they once had, which fostered employee engagement, morale, and autonomy. It sickens me to see what has become of the Agency I was once so very proud to work. I fear Saul’s confirmation as a Trump Commissioner for several years will be devastating for SSA employees, and especially for the Hearings and Appeals Operations.
Hearings and Appeals whines so much I cant even listen any more. If the ALJs don't like 6 figure jobs for life and cheap benefits I challenge them to go back to what they were doing before which had neither of those things going for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FO and DO folks the SR and CR take the beating every single day. OHO people would last a week. You don't like it try making this kind of money on the outside.
3:50 has some shades of SA27 or whatever her name was, but it's pretty much exactly spot on. We are being Operations-ized and the widgets will be moving more quickly no matter what (that means for the process).
@8:36AM:
No employee, regardless of the amount of salary, benefits, etc., deserves to be abused, taken advantage of, extensively micro-managed, harassed, retaliated against, discriminated against, or mistreated - Period. I do not care whether one is with OHO, AC, or DO’s and FO’s.
The bottom line is this type of managerial misconduct has been on the rise at SSA since 2001, and nothing good has come from it. To add insult to injury, engage in Bad Faith Union negotiations and rush to the FSIP because of their political make-up/ideology, in order to destroy decades of successful Collective Bargaining Negotiation Agreements and Renewals via MOU’s, is completely and totally inconsistent with good management practices, antiquated, and dragging SSA as an Agency farther into the ground. This is the wrong direction. This will destroy employee/workforce morale, and serves no useful, essential purpose to successfully run SSA.
The individuals responsible for this wrong headed direction failed in their management years ago. They are the reason for the million+ disability case backlog, the pseudo emphasis on quality while the backlog grew, the unrealistic sweatshop production quotas, and management by punishing employees with Censures, Reprimands, days/weeks off without pay, improper firings, etc. That some of these highly paid old geezers were allowed to capitalize on the chaos of the Trump Administration, and returned collecting their full Annuities and salaries, among numerous other perks, including working from their homes across the country while being stationed at Falls Church or Baltimore, i.e., taking advantage of a gravy train for the taking on the taxpayers dime, is beyond
outrageous. Congressional Hearings and Investigations are necessary concerning what took place here.
Also, the FSIP decision is unprecedented. Never before has any FSIP issued such politically motivated decisions, regardless of the ideology and make-up of Panel members. Quite simply, they cannot, and should not, be allowed to come in and unilaterally turn over decades of Collective Bargaining Agreements and Renewals via MOU’s. What happened here cannot be allowed to stand in any way, shape, or form. Left unchecked, the Federal Civil Service as we know it will be destroyed, and returned to the Spoils System under unilateral control of POTUS and the White House. As I said, this is the wrong direction.
This is why even Federal employees need the protection of a union. Management, whether Republican or Democrat, will look to screw the employees. This allows management another tactic to achieve their goals. Just reach an impasse and let this panel, a panel I'm sure compromised of people who haven't worked a real job for years, decide.
3:05 these are not jobs in the public sector, union there if you want. On my tax dollar put up or shut up and get the union out of federal jobs!!!!!
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