FCW (which used to be called Federal Computer Weekly, I think) has a piece up on labor relations at Social Security. It's mostly union griping that there hasn't been enough change since Trump and Saul left office. However, buried 20 paragraphs down is the news that Social Security submitted its reopening plan to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on July 26. Previously, we knew that Social Security had obtained an extension of time to submit a plan but we didn't know when it was due. It's apparent from the FCW piece that the unions know nothing about the reopening plan. They would have preferred to negotiate it before any plan was submitted to OMB and still hope to negotiate it after a plan is approved.
Cognitive dissonance. First you accuse the unions of "griping", a pejorative word. Then you admit that SSA intentionally cut the unions out of the reopening plan. Say that again, but slower.
ReplyDelete10:34
ReplyDeleteSometimes its just possible that the Unions and the SSA can be in the wrong.
Just suggesting
Things have worsened with the Delta variant even since July 26. No way SSA should reopen with the COVID cases and hospitalizations rapidly increasing.
ReplyDeleteI think the reopening plan is being revised already and that's why it hasn't been released.
The unions are not the only group to notice that little has changed since Saul and Black left. This leads to the question - what (or in this case, who) has been the constant up in the Commissioner's office since 2017, when the problems started?
ReplyDeleteI will posit that it's the same New York based rehired annuitant who is making over $300,000 a year in pension and salary to run the agency into the ground.
Just a question on timelines: if the WH had a deadline for agencies to submit plans and pre-submission bargaining stalled with unions, how would that be resolved? Would the deadline be meaningless? I mean, there isn't even an impasses panel right now to resolve it (not that having one would resolve things in a quick manner)?
ReplyDeleteunion...we want to work from home forever.
ReplyDeleteOK, so how is SSA supposed to negotiate with them?
Are you trolling?
DeleteThere are 3 unions who represent employees and none of them are saying this.
There is also settled federal employment law that governs negotiations and impasse.
SSA under Saul was not following that law, however, as Saul was presumably waiting for Trump to get reinstated and dissolve the federal workforce entirely, or something like that. SSA lost several federal arbitrations over intentional bad faith bargaining. This is public record.
ReplyDeleteAFGE should have been involved with the negotiations and the writing of the plan regarding reopening, before the plan was submitted to OMB. If SSA management is trying to ram through a reopening plan with no AFGE input, well this is very wrong and sounds like something Saul would have done pre-pandemic.
How are SSA employees supposed to feel confident in this plan, if our union had zero influence on the writing of the plan? Employees health and safety should be of paramount importance. Give AFGE a seat at the table!