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ICE News |
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| Open Letter to John Gage Concerning H1N1 Pandemic | Chris Crane Vice President AFGE Local 3806 (ICE) Salt Lake City , Utah |
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| On
5/1/2009, John Gage and AFGE forbid the National ICE Council from issuing a
“Vote of No Confidence” against the Acting Assistant Secretary of ICE, John
Torres, for his horrific handling of the H1N1 Pandemic. If you recall, in the early stages of the outbreak, the U.S. Center for Disease Control announced that it did not have enough information to determine what type of threat the world faced. The outbreak reportedly had the potential of becoming a full blown pandemic capable of killing thousands, if not millions. It was a time to exercise great caution. Under the leadership of Asst. Sec. John Torres, ICE did not communicate with ICE employees about the outbreak. ICE acted as if the outbreak was not even happening. Officers making daily contact with individuals coming from the epicenter of the outbreak had no training and no protective equipment. They did not know how to identify the virus, or isolate it. They did not know how to report suspected cases or how to obtain medical care for officers or detainees infected. The only information available to employees was that which could be found in the news. Mr. Torres separated ICE employees from their families by deploying them to the Mexican border and again did so without providing training, protective equipment, or any type of information for the concerned and confused spouses and children left behind. When our officers arrived at the border, Mr. Torres’s operations were so poorly planned that officers sat around for weeks with nothing to do, while violent criminals back in their home communities went free because of staffing shortages created by the deployments. With America’s first line of defense untrained in identifying the virus, the American public was placed at even greater risk. At this point, we can only say thank God this was not a full blown pandemic. If it had been, hundreds of ICE employees might be dead. As it was stated to me, John Gage and AFGE forbid the issuance of a Vote of No Confidence because it might offend the Obama administration. No other reason was given. It was never suggested that the Vote of No Confidence was not warranted, etc. It was only said that it might offend the Obama administration. AFGE actively fought and stopped a measure that could have brought attention to a matter of public and employee safety, and AFGE did so simply to promote its own political agenda. While most ICE employees will tell you that John Gage and AFGE do not support ICE employees, few understand that John Gage and AFGE are taking actions to keep the problems within ICE a secret from the American people. Few understand that active measures are being taken by AFGE that knowingly compromise public safety and harm ICE employees. Our local (Local 3806) was one of the first union groups in the nation to stand up and challenge the mistreatment of federal employees in regard to H1N1, as we quickly sent e-mails directly to Asst. Sec. Torres before our officers were deployed to the Mexican border (ICE/DHS made its first communication with ICE employees following the first complaints from Local 3806). Likewise, Local 3806 was the first to identify the need to bring national awareness to the acts of ICE and Asst. Sec. Torres for the sake of educating the public and lawmakers, and to prevent such an occurrence from happing again. This is why the local intent to issue a Vote of No Confidence was elevated to the National ICE Council. As stated earlier, the ICE Council was then ordered by AFGE not to issue the vote to prevent offending the Obama administration. So it came as a great shock to members of Local 3806 this week as they read the latest edition of the AFGE Week in Review, in which John Gage and AFGE publicly called attention to President Obama’s failure to fulfill his promise of giving TSO’s their bargaining rights. John Gage and AFGE have publicly alleged that the president himself has not fulfilled his promise to AFGE, but John Gage and AFGE can not publicly challenge an Acting Assistant Secretary who was a holdover from the Bush administration, and who placed the lives of ICE employees in danger. “TSOs, AFGE Press Administration for Collective Bargaining Rights: American Federation of Government Employees President John Gage earlier this month called the White House to request that the administration fulfill its promise to AFGE regarding collective bargaining rights for Transportation Security Officers. While understanding that the president has a lot on his plate, AFGE stressed that the TSOs have waited long enough.” To say that some of our members are outraged is an understatement. They were already outraged that John Gage and AFGE threw them under the bus to avoid offending the Obama administration with regard to the Vote of No Confidence. They were already upset that when Presidential candidate Obama referred to ICE officers as terrorists, FLEOA, not John Gage, publicly came to their defense. They were already outraged that several weeks ago during congressional testimony over the H1N1 pandemic, ICE employees were excluded by John Gage himself from participating in the testimony, which resulted in not one word about the mistreatment of ICE employees being spoken before congress, and when TSA and CBP employees were praised for their service to our country, ICE employees again went without mention. They were already outraged that during the eight years of the previous administration, an administration that allowed the attack of ICE union representatives and employees, John Gage and AFGE refused to support activism within our local aimed at exposing criminal acts, fraud waste and abuse, whistleblower retaliation, and overall corruption and deceit of the American people. Our employees now know that John Gage and AFGE will publicly challenge the new administration on behalf of TSOs, but not for the dues paying men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. |
National Demand to Bargain Concerning
Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Virus Preparedness/ Contingency Plan The AFGE National Council 118 - ICE issued a demand to bargain with management concerning actions associated with the H1N1 Influenza on May 20, 2009. Read the complete document here. 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. Read the document here. The council is seeking your input. Send your comments to: dro-comment@afge3928.com
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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. "This was a bad match from the beginning," AFGE Local 918 President David Wright said. "From the beginning ICE has taken every step to reduce the FPS workforce by starving it of all its resources and attempting to privatize the entire agency." Wright said moving FPS out of ICE and recent congressional efforts to restore staffing levels for FPS law enforcement officers are critical steps in rebuilding this beleaguered agency. FPS responsibilities, such as providing physical security and policing of Federal buildings, establishing building security policy, and ensuring compliance are outside the scope of ICE's immigration and customs enforcement mission and are better aligned to NPPD.090513 |
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