Federal Daily - February 23, 2010
Union Seeks Exclusive Representation of TSA Workers
The American Federation of Government Employees on Feb. 22 said it would file a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority seeking an election to become the exclusive union representative for 40,000 Transportation Security Officers. The union announced the petition on the first day of its annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C., this week.
AFGE filed its first petition for an election with FLRA in 2003, but the petition was dismissed after FLRA decided it did not have jurisdiction over the unionization effort.
At that time, said AFGE National President John Gage, FLRA seemed to be unable to separate the issues of unionization and collective bargaining—which TSOs under law are not currently permitted to do. Gage noted that Carol Pope, who now chairs the FLRA, dissented in the 2003 decision on the basis that unions also performed services other than collective bargaining, such as representing members before agency leaders and Congress, and in formal discussions, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and appeals.
“AFGE is very proud today to seek sole representation of the TSA bargaining unit,” Gage said. “AFGE began serving the TSA workforce the day the agency was created. In that time, we have represented TSOs before the agency’s Disciplinary Review Board, at the EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission], in the courts and on Capitol Hill. Since AFGE chartered its first TSA Local in 2003, our TSA membership has grown from 13 brave TSOs to nearly 13,000 today.”
Gage said that although it would have been “ideal” if TSA had granted collective bargaining rights before unionization, the union had “always known that the choice to unionize and the task of winning collective bargaining rights for the TSA workforce would be a two-part process.”
The National Treasury Employees Union, which also represents TSOs at about two dozen chapters at airports around the country, said it is ready to file for an election should FLRA grant AFGE’s petition.
“Should the FLRA determine that this petition is valid, NTEU is ready to compete for and win a union election in TSA,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “However, we question the timing of pursuing exclusive representative status without the existence of collective bargaining rights. More specifically, we question how having an exclusive representative, without collective bargaining, will bring about real, meaningful improvements to TSOs’ work lives.”
To see more, go to: http://tinyurl.com/ygslypp (AFGE) or http://tinyurl.com/yfdm4zc (NTEU).
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Most NSPS Conversions to be Completed Ahead of Schedule, DoD Says
DoD intends to waste little time in moving employees out of the National Security Personnel System, the department’s ill-fated pay-for-performance effort.
The department announced that it was poised to begin moving most of the approximately 220,000 NSPS employees out of the system within a matter months, with the bulk of them moving into the General Schedule. The first transitions could start early this spring, with most of the employees transferred out by Sept. 30—about a year ahead of schedule, according to information posted Feb. 19 on the DoD Web site. Under the FY 2010 National Defense Authorization Act—the law that abolished NSPS—all NSPS employees must be converted by Jan. 1, 2012.
However, certain factors could affect the Sept. 30 timeline for some employees, DoD said—for example, if the transition causes an interruption to mission or hardship to employees; existing processes are not able to classify NSPS positions into the appropriate non-NSPS system; or a legacy performance management system does not exist. Individual DoD components will address those issues, DoD said
News of planned transition timeline comes just after DoD’s launch of a new online program to serve as a primer for those transitioning out of NSPS. The training program, called GS 101, resides on the NSPS Web site and covers broad topic areas, including GS classification architecture and salary structure.
To see more, go to: www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123191179/
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DoD Suspends Popular Military Spouse Career Program
DoD on Feb. 18 announced it was temporarily suspending a popular employment assistance program for military spouses, the My Spouse Career Advancement Account program, while it reviews the year-old effort.
The program, also known as MyCAA, offers military spouses opportunities to pursue “portable” careers in high-demand, high-growth occupations such as education and health care. The program offers spouses assistance with training, job readiness and employment and career services. Through MyCAA, spouses can receive financial assistance to pursue education and training, free career counseling and access to military-friendly employers.
During the hiatus, which DoD officials said would be as short as possible, spouses will not be able to create new accounts, and new applications will not be accepted. However, spouses who already have been approved for financial assistance will not be affected, and spouses who already have an account can continue to use the Web site for counseling and planning, officials said.
During the review, officials encouraged spouses to explore other government options, such as the transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits. Spouses also can visit Military OneSource, www.militaryonesource.com for free consultations on education and training, DoD said.
Nearly 133,000 military spouses have applied for the program since it launched last March, officials said, and about 98,000 spouses are enrolled in courses or have been approved for financial assistance.
To see more, go to: www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=58009
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VA Announces Winners of Innovation Competition
Employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs have lots of ideas—thousands, in fact. A competition to find new ways to improve and speed up the processing and delivery of VA benefits—announced by President Obama at a Veterans of Foreign Wars address in August—pulled in about 3,000 entries by the time it closed late last year.
On Friday, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki announced 10 winning ideas selected from among the thousands. Winners were chosen by a four-judge panel that included Craig Newmark, online innovator and founder of craigslist.org.
The competition—open to employees of VA employees and of veterans service organizations collocated at VA facilities—solicited ideas aimed at cutting backlogs, shortening wait times and delivering benefits sooner.
To see the winning ideas, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1852.
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