From Government Executive:
Officials at the nation’s largest federal employee union said that they have seen little progress from agencies in the days since President Biden signed an executive order rescinding Trump administration edicts on labor-management relations last week. ...
Ralph de Juliis, president of AFGE’s Social Security Administration Council, said he has seen a similar reluctance to move forward with the implementation of Biden’s order rescinding the previous president’s workforce policies.
“At SSA, we already sent the executive order to the agency and said that we wanted to return to the table, and Jim Julian, the associate commissioner for labor-management and employee relations, responded by saying, ‘Good point, we’ll talk about this on our February call,’” de Juliis said. “And earlier today, I sent the recent order from [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] on COVID and social distancing, and I sent it to various SSA people who had given me floor plans on how they plan to squeeze us into cubicles [when we return to the office], and I asked, ‘How are you going to redo the floor plan?’ And the answer we got back was, ‘We’re not doing anything yet, we need to wait until we’re told what we can do.” ...
de Juliis said that, at least at the Social Security Administration, that relationship with the current labor-management officials can never be mended. AFGE’s council of unions at the agency, along with other labor groups and advocates, have called on the Biden administration to force Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioner David Black to resign before their terms expire in 2025.
“[The officials] in the labor-management office have to go,” de Juliis said. “They’ve overseen the discipline of too many union officials during the pandemic, of too many employees. The trust cannot be restored . . . Employees are held accountable and held responsible, while leaders are being given a pass, and they cannot be given a pass. There’s no working with these people, so get rid of them, kick them laterally to the associate commissioner of recycling or something, but just get them out of dealing with labor relations.”
The folks at SSA, including managers at hearing offices and field offices, who were complicit in allowing offices to be leased and designed where folks in hearing and field offices are going to be sitting in cubicles which clearly would not comply with OSHA regulations related to COVID19 need to be fired. Not only have they wastefully spent budgetary dollars on such offices but, more importantly, they are clearly jeopardizing the health and welfare of SSA employees Not to mention it is highly doubtful there is even proper ventilation systems in the offices.
ReplyDeleteNo need to give them other jobs. They are a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteThe Feb 4 org chart on ssa.gov shows
ReplyDeleteAssoc Commsnr,
Office of Labor Management and
Employee Relations
Joseph Sullivan
Mr Julian is no longer listed as AC LMER.
Looks like AFGE got its wish.
We'll see if it makes a difference.
Well how did this work out, ask HUD's AFGE?
DeleteLosing Jim Julian is the best thing to happen at OHO since I was born.
ReplyDeleteSome owners of buildings that are leased to SSA are making out nice. Getting service done is a headache. GSA doesn't do much. Good luck redesigning the offices will be tough. Even fed owned building are a nightmare. Moves are usually delayed several years.
ReplyDelete@1:29 pm. Many of the SSA offices apparently don't even have windows that can be opened to allow for circulation of fresh air. When you combine that with archaic ventilation systems you have a recipe for disaster for COVID19 related illnesses.
ReplyDelete@12.39 Cubicles are not even very safe from a health perspective without a pandemic. It's virtually nonsensical to think that folks can safely work in cubicles during a pandemic.
ReplyDelete@ 4:56 you mean like schools, offices, stores and millions of other locations where others work every single day?!? OMG the humanity!!!!
ReplyDeleteThere is no way the field offices are reopening until the pandemic is over, so this is a moot point that we are arguing over.
ReplyDeletealternate work days...you work at home while your cubicle neighbor works in the office. Seems simple.
ReplyDelete@3:17 Given how much folks work at home versus the office that may be impossible.
ReplyDelete10:44 the state of schools, offices, etc. with those conditions being full of people is tragic as it would be if SSA offices were.
ReplyDeleteThese "others have it worse than you" (ergo you have no right to complain or more even there's no issue) arguments constantly employed in America are some sort of weird inverse of the phenomenon of tragic stories being offered and received as happy ones (e.g., the child with terminal cancer and six figures of medical bills raising enough money to cover it all with their GoFundMe).
Eyes on the ball, folks.
One thing that the pandemic has hopefully taught SSA leadership is that in-person service is not necessary. Hopefully the outmoded field office era is coming to an end. If the agency can work remotely for a year, the agency can work remotely in perpetuity. The amount of taxpayer funds the government wastes on office space should be a crime!
ReplyDeleteOLMER is certainly off course; forcing supervisors to sign off on lies about employees.
ReplyDelete@10:30I think that making decisions that will impact your income and health for the rest of your life deserves something more than a fuzzy voice over the phone. Visual cues like facial expressions tell a good CR if the person is understanding the information you are giving them or if you need to change how you are presenting.
ReplyDeleteMaking it all online or phone is a huge disservice to Claimants and even more so for those with a disability.
@10:11 Thankfully it is (checks calendar) 2021 and we are able to have video calls now. Best of both worlds! There is no need for us to be breathing in each other's germs to provide high quality service to the American public.
DeleteI think it is funny, they cant work in an office because it is too dangerous but they expect every other single service to be available to them because it isnt to dangerous for Amazon, pizza hut or a million other services they are useing.
ReplyDeleteWe are too important to risk our lives, you risk yours so we dont have too!
That's such a typical right-wing talking point in 2021: "If people employed in X, Y, or Z industries need to risk their lives to keep a roof over their heads, so should you peasants!!!"
ReplyDeleteThe lack of critical thinking skills is very apparent in 12:21's post so let me help him or her get their head around the situation:
Imagine, if you will, that SSA kept their offices (aka "vectors for disease") open to the public in the midst of a global pandemic. Just think about the impact that would have on the agency's ability to deliver consistent public service. Employees would be catching COVID, especially the new hypercontagious strains of the disease, left and right. They would then all need to quarantine for two weeks at home. Some would die.
Instead, by being able to work from home, employees are enabled to keep themselves healthy and able to deliver 40 hours of public service on a weekly basis.
How, precisely, is that a bad thing, let alone a situation that provokes rage posting?