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Senate Panel Moves 3 Bills at AFGE Urging

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week passed three AFGE-backed bills concerning federal employees:

• S. 599, Federal Firefighter Fairness Act, would make it easier for fire fighters, paramedics and other response personnel to get compensation if they become sick as certain diseases and disability are assumed to have been caused by work-related activities.
• S. 707, Telework Enhancement Act, would promote telework by requiring agencies to come up with policies and implementation plans.
• S. 469, Part-Time Retirement Service Credit, would make it easier for federal employees who want to fade into retirement by working part-time at the end of their career. Their annuities would be calculated based on the salary they would have received as full-time employees.

The full Senate is expected to vote on these bills either in June or July. Meanwhile, the Senate has approved the nomination of Robert Groves to be Director of the Census Bureau. AFGE supports Groves' nomination.090527

Federal Protective Service Taken out of ICE

The American Federation of Government Employees Local 918 commended President Barack Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for their decision to take the Federal Protective Service out of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The president's budget, issued last week, transfers FPS from ICE to DHS's National Protection Programs Directorate.090513 <more>

AFGE Kicks off Insourcing Campaign

AFGE has kicked off its campaign to raise awareness among AFGE Locals that now is the time to push their agencies to bring contracted out jobs back in-house. 090527 <more>

Bill Introduced to Suspend Outsourcing Studies, Bring Outsourced Work In-House

An AFGE-backed bill that would suspend the job competition process and encourage insourcing was introduced in the House last week. The Correction of Longstanding Errors in Agencies' Unsustainable Procurements Act was introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and was cosponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 50 lawmakers. 090610 <more>

AFGE Asks Obama to Shelve A-76

In response to the Obama administration's request for AFGE's opinion on the job competition process, the union urged the administration to immediately shut down all pending job competitions before any more damage is done. 090527 <more>

Quarterly Membership

Meeting Scheduled

July 9th - NSC - Challenger

4:30PM - 5:30PM

The AFGE National Council 118 - ICE issued a demand to bargain with management concerning actions associated with the H1N1 Influenza on May 20, 2009. <more>

ICE Issues a Proposed Victim Assistance Program Directive

On May 8, 2009 ICE served Council 118 with a proposed Victim Assistance Program Directive. These are changes in working conditions that will affect all Bargaining Unit Employees Nationwide in ICE. <more>

NSC PWP Aribration Settlement

After literally years of litigation, Local 3928 and Nebraska Service Center management reached agreement to settle a longstanding arbitration dating back to 2006. <more>

Local EEO Settlement Results in Promotion

Recently, the Local completed a settlement agreement concerning a denial of promotion where a manager clearly attempted to denigrate the qualifications and merit of a bargaining unit employeeís application, in favor of the applicant that the manager desired for the position. Although, as is common in settlements, the agency admitted no violations, the agreement promotes the employee to the pay level and career ladder the employee would have achieved had the manager not taken the actions in this case.

New OPM Chief Pushes for More Telework

After meeting with AFGE President John Gage, Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced a plan to increase the number of teleworkers as a way to reduce traffic and improve employee morale and productivity. 090527 <more>

The officially announced average 2009 FEHBP premium increase was 7%. Over eight years, premiums have risen by an average of 69%. These increases occurred at the same time that the general rate of inflation hovered between 2 and 3 percent, and federal pay raises have ranged from 2 to 4 percent.

For the fourth year in a row, federal employees and their families will be forced to shoulder a far bigger increase in FEHBP premiums that the government will bear. In the largest FEHBP plan, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS) Standard Option for Family Coverage, the governmentís increase for 2009 was just 7.9% while employees will pay 13.4% more. The average share of premiums paid by the government is now down to 68%; in 2001 it was just under 72%.

Changes in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program

The U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed regulations on changes in the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). OPM amends the regulations:

• to  authorize retroactive enrollment changes when an enrollee has lost his  or her spouse through death or divorce or the enrollee's last eligible  child dies, marries, or reaches age 22.

• to add that an individual may enroll 31 days before the enrollee or an eligible family member loses other dental and/or vision coverage.

• to clarify the reference to excluded positions in 5 U.S.C. 8901(1).

Read the document here. OPM must receive comments on or before August 3, 2009.

AFGE Congratulates Ernie Dubester On Nomination To Federal Labor Relations Authority
 

(WASHINGTON) ñ The American Federation of Government Employees, AFGE, today applauded the White Houseís decision to nominate Ernie DuBester to fill the vacant position of the Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, FLRA. In a career spanning over three decades, DuBester has extensive experience in labor-management relations, including service in the Clinton administration as Chairman and Member of the National Mediation Board.

ìWe believe that Ernie DuBester is a quality individual whose extensive experience as a mediator, labor-management relations expert, and academic will be a credit to the FLRA,î said John Gage, AFGE national president.

DuBester began his career at the National Labor Relations Board, principally drafting decisions that applied and interpreted the National Labor Relations Act ñ the law on which the Federal Labor-Management Relations Statute is modeled. In between his tenures at the National Labor Relations Board and the National Mediation Board, DeBester served as legislative counsel to the AFL-CIO, a distinguish professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law and as an adjunct professor at the Catholic University School of Law.
 

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