Federal Daily - July 21, 2010

Obama Establishes Initiative to Improve Feds’ Health and Safety

President Obama on July 19 released a memorandum detailing a four-year initiative aimed at bolstering government efforts to reduce preventable work-related injuries and illnesses among federal employees.

The Protecting Our Workers and Ensuring Reemployment initiative, which will cover Fiscal Years 2011 to 2014, extends federal workplace safety and health efforts “by setting more aggressive performance targets, encouraging the collection and analysis of data on the causes and consequences of frequent or severe injury and illness, and prioritizing safety and health management programs that have proven effective in the past.”

The initiative will seek improvements in seven areas:

• Reducing total injury and illness case rates;
• Reducing lost time injury and illness case rates;
• Analyzing lost time injury and illness data;
• Increasing the timely filing of workers/ compensation claims;
• Increasing the timely filing of wage-loss claims;
• Reducing lost production day rates; and
• Speeding employees’ return to work in cases of serious injury or illness.

Departments and agencies, with the exception of the Postal Service, will work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Office of Workers' Compensation Programs to establish performance targets in each category.

To see the memo, go to: http://tinyurl.com/254s3x8.

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FLRA Urged to Provide Guidance on Union Rights

A labor union has asked that the Federal Labor Relations Authority issue guidance on how far unions can go to protect Transportation Security Administration workers in the event workers are denied a seat at the bargaining table.

The National Treasury Employees Union sought agency guidance as part of its effort to overturn an FLRA regional director’s decision last month rejecting a request to hold an election to choose the sole representative for 40,000 TSA Transportation Security Officers. The American Federation of Government Employees also is seeking to be the sole TSO representative.

The decision has been appealed to the three-member FLRA board.

At issue is whether there is any point to having a representative election if the workers are denied collective bargaining rights. In a 2003 decision, FLRA held that the agency had no jurisdiction to order an election because TSOs are barred from collective bargaining by law. This time around, the unions said they hope for a different result with a new FLRA board and a new administration in charge.

“Exclusive representation without collective bargaining presents extraordinary circumstances requiring guidance on fundamental questions about the rights and obligations of employees, an exclusive representative and the employer,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in a July 19 statement.

Until TSOs are granted collective bargaining rights, union representatives will be barred from negotiating labor-management contracts. Unions still are able to perform services other than collective bargaining, such as representing members before agency leaders and Congress, and in formal discussions, disciplinary and grievance procedures and appeals.

To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1580.

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Bill Would Provide Benefit Info to Discharging Servicemembers

Discharging servicemembers would get a digital list of benefits they can apply for as veterans if a bipartisan bill recently introduced in the House becomes law, according to the bill’s sponsors.

The Veterans’ Information Act (H.R. 5719) would direct DoD to distribute to servicemembers, upon their discharge or release from active duty, information that lists and explains the health, education and other benefits for which veterans are eligible. The bill was sponsored by Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., and Adam Putnam, R-Fla.

“Our offices regularly receive complaints from former military servicemembers who simply haven’t received essential information about the benefits they earned in service to our nation,” Putnam said in a July 19 statement. “This legislation is a common sense solution that will make up-to-date information available in an easy to access electronic format.”

To see more, go to: www.house.gov/apps/list/press/fl12_putnam/
20100719_veteran_benefits.shtml

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