The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has given the union (NTEU) that represents attorneys and decision writers in its Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) a win on telework. Social Security unilaterally terminated its contract with the union and refused to agree to terms requiring telework. FLRA ruled that Social Security had failed to produce evidence to back up its case and ruled for the union.
This is good news. SSA Commissioner Saul needs to be taught a lesson. I'd love to see AFGE take Saul and SSA to court and for the court to order that hard working SSA Operations employees be reinstated immediately.
ReplyDeleteSSA completely terminated telework on flimsy pretexts, without providing statistical evidence to justify their radical decision which has so disrupted SSA employees lives and damaged morale too. It's time the courts to rectify the wrong that was done.
Operations employees are so much more public facing (at least the vast majority of their EEs who work in FOs, DOs, TSCs, and PSCs) and have legitimately non-portable work that I doubt they have any hope.
ReplyDeleteHowever, AFGE decision writers should feel at least a tingle of hope that OHO will be hard pressed to cut their telework much if at all since NTEU folks in the same PDs doing the same work will keep their three and in some cases four days of telework each week.
If I'm an AFGE BU employee, though, I have to wonder about the quality of my union's representation at the FSIP this spring/summer. Why wasn't that OIG report showing telework increases coincided with a big spike in DW productivity like NTEU did? Why wasn't the Telework Enhancement Act mentioned in the AFGE impasse decision? Maybe AFGE was always sunk since the vast majority of their BU EEs are in Operations (and we all know AFGE does no favors for the increasingly-attorney-only DW corps), but seeing this NTEU decision has to really make AFGE DWs question their union's prowess at the table and in other fora.
"so disrupted SSA employees lives and damaged morale" by making them come to work.
ReplyDelete@3:17
ReplyDeleteHERE HERE!! Exactly! The union "representation" for AGGE has been a joke for years. They absolutely do not represent the attorneys. It's time for the DWs to opt out of this union and find actual, competent representation.
Not sure why this is being so celebrated. Eventually, the agency will put forth an argument that greatly reduces telework. Really has nothing to do with what NTEU did.
ReplyDelete8:07 AM, you haven't read the decision. If you knew anything about this you'd know that NTEU was loaded for bear at this hearing. A lot of evidence including a statement from the Inspector General on the portability of the work done by these employees as well as the productivity on telework. Management set forth literally nothing, no counter evidence. They had zip.
ReplyDelete3:29pm You should look at the part of the decision that covers productivity. These employees are just as productive or more productive on telework and NTEU had the stats to prove it. The FSIP is pro-management but the evidence showed again and again management documenting increased productivity on telework. The FSIP just adopted management's actual evidence, presented by NTEU at hearing, in the decision.