A news flash for NTEU Members:
This is the year "we turn challenges into opportunities," NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley told more than 400 NTEU activists as she opened NTEU's 2001 Legislative Conference. She told the standing room only crowd that as they spread out across Capitol Hill to meet with their representatives, they would need to educate some of them about the important work of federal employees. The NTEU legislative agenda this year includes stopping the double-digit premium increases the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program and making health care more affordable for federal employees; and higher Federal pay, and eliminating the contracting out of federal jobs.
The executive order (12871), issued in 1993, called for partnership councils between labor and management and provided a less adversarial process for dealing with many labor-management issues.
NTEU has filed a grievance on behalf of present and former trademark attorneys, charging that high production standards and stringent deadlines force employees to work unpaid overtime in violation of federal law.
By committing $1 million dollars to it Child Care Assistance Program, the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) offers many more IRS employees the chance to receive help with their Child Care needs.
Top Democratic Lawmakers threatened to use a rare congressional procedure to reinstate several environmental protection rules rolled back by the Bush administration this month. The battle between Democrats and Republicans over environmental and energy measures threatens to be one of the most contentious brawls in Congress this year.
Seeking to end an 18-year dispute, the National Treasury Employees Union will ask U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn today to order the federal government to pay more than 188,000 current and former employees millions of dollars in back salary owed to them. Union officials said three years of efforts to negotiate a settlement with the government have stalled.
Justice Department lawyers in December said they were "cautiously optimistic" that an agreement could be reached, but union officials said that since then, progress has slowed and they see no alternative but to return to court. Justice Department officials said yesterday (3-27-01) that they were still "in negotiations" with the union.
After three years of discussions, we're tired of the foot-dragging," said NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelly. She added that with interest payments, the government and taxpayers' liability is growing by nearly $1 million each month. Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform, mocked the assertion that the government's delay is costing taxpayers money. "That's the logic of the terrorist that shoots the hostage and blames the police," he said.
The union is representing engineers, scientists and clerical workers who are given higher pay on the grounds that their jobs are hard to fill or that they worked in difficult locations. In 1983, the Office of Personnel Management ruled that annual raises given to the government's white-collar employees would not apply to these "special rate" employees. The union sued, contending that the rule wrongfully deprived these workers of raises or adequate raises. The class action covers the period from 1982 to 1988, after which the OPM decided the workers should be given raises along with the rest of the white-collar employees.
If any of the NTEU members have any questions about the above issues, you can contact the NTEU National Office 901 E Street NW, Suite 600 Washington DC 20004 (202) 783-4444