Federal Daily - September 14, 2009

House Panel OKs Bill to Provide Union Rights to TSOs

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Sept. 10 approved a bill that would provide Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees with full collective bargaining rights. The panel, on a 19-10 party-line vote, approved the Transportation Security Workforce Enhancement Act of 2009, H.R. 1881, and sent it to the full House. The bill, if signed into law, also would place Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) under the General Schedule system and terminate the agency’s current, heavily criticized Performance and Accountability Standards System. “Providing these rights will lead to a more stable and independent professional TSA workforce, so employees can spend their time securing the safety of our nation’s airports,” said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley. “Passage of this bill will allow TSA to become a world-class airport security agency.” In a related matter, President Obama said he will nominate Erroll Southers as the new TSA assistant secretary. Southers currently serves as Los Angeles World Airports Police Department assistant chief for homeland security and intelligence, and is an associate director at the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at the University of Southern California. American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage applauded the nomination. “The question of bargaining rights at TSA is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,’” Gage said in a Sept. 10 statement. “We are confident that the appointment of Mr. Southers as administrator will help put that matter to bed.” To see more, go to: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2580, www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1474 or  www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=1042.

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Negotiators Urged to Preserve Workplace Provisions in Funding Bill

A coalition of nine House legislators urged House members of the conference committee that is working out a final version of the Fiscal Year 2010 Defense Authorization bill, H.R. 2647, to preserve provisions to improve the federal workplace that were part of the House version of the bill. In a Sept. 9 letter to House conferees, the group asked that they fight to retain all the federal employee provisions that were in the House-passed version of H.R. 2647, but stripped from the Senate’s bill. Specifically, the group, led by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., asked that negotiators keep provisions that would: provide annuity credit for unused sick leave for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees; change the computation of certain annuities based on part-time service; expand the class of individuals eligible to receive an actuarially reduced annuity under the Civil Service Retirement System; and authorize the redeposit of retirement funds under FERS. The group also asked the conferees to retain House language that would change the retirement credit for service of certain employees transferred from the District of Columbia service to federal service, and phase in the use of locality-based comparability payments to replace cost-of-living adjustments for some federal employees. The letter noted that the Senate bill did retain workplace provisions that would allow for the re-employment of federal retirees on a limited, part-time basis without offsetting their annuity from salary. “The House-passed Defense Authorization bill provides our best opportunity yet to bring needed incentives that will increase worker productivity,” Moran said. To see more, go to: http://moran.house.gov/apps/list/press/va08_moran/DefFeds.shtml.

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VA Asks Employees for Suggestions on Improving Agency

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Sept. 10 announced the launch of a competition that will fund projects to help the agency improve itself and spur department-wide innovation. The competition, which will run until Nov. 11, is open to VA employees and certain veterans service organizations. The VA is looking for projects on everything from how to improve claims processing times to ways to increase agency transparency. At the close of the competition, VA administrators from each regional office will select the winning ideas, which will be reviewed by a top management team. The final selections will receive full funding for project development and implementation at the regional office which submitted the idea, VA said. “We are confident that our team will come forward with many creative and original ways to accelerate processes and better deliver services for our nation’s veterans,” said VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1763.

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