Tag: American Federation of Government Employees

EPA Management Thwarting Organizing Effort At Georgia Laboratory, Says AFGE

 EPA management fires a world-renowned EPA scientist and suspends another

ATLANTA, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Federation of Government Employees’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Labor Council #238 today expressed its utter disbelief that in the midst of a union election, EPA management has fired a world-renowned EPA scientist and suspended another at the Ecosystems Research Division of EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga.

Scientists at EPA’s Athens laboratory contacted AFGE, seeking union representation. “The two scientists who were blatantly reprised against were activists in seeking the union election. We stand by them in their hour of need,” said AFGE EPA Council 238 President Charles Orzehoskie. Continue reading “EPA Management Thwarting Organizing Effort At Georgia Laboratory, Says AFGE”

EPA Union Questions Administration’s Support For Federal Sector Unions

 AFGE EPA Council negotiating since May 2010 and agency has yet to agree to ground rules

CHICAGO, Aug. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Federation of Government Employees’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Labor Council 238 today announced its dismay over the failure of EPA to bargain in good faith. “In the midst of a pay freeze invoked by this administration, and with federal employees and labor under attack in Congress, we have concerns about this administration’s stance on federal employee unions,” said AFGE EPA Council 238 President Charles Orzehoskie.

On December 9, 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13522 – Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services. In that directive, the President stated, among other things, that “Federal employees and their union representatives are an essential source of front-line ideas and information about the realities of delivering government services to the American people … Management should discuss workplace challenges and problems with labor and endeavor to develop solutions jointly.” Continue reading “EPA Union Questions Administration’s Support For Federal Sector Unions”

G.O.P. Platform Seeks to Weaken Powers of Unions

 

New York Times
August 30, 2012, 10:58 am

G.O.P. Platform Seeks to Weaken Powers of Unions

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

 

Unlike in the past, this year’s Republican platform in Tampa, Fla., does not contain any sympathetic nods to the nation’s labor unions, which have become among the Republicans’ most formidable political foes. Instead, the platform calls for numerous steps that could significantly weaken America’s labor unions — public-sector and private-sector ones — and help speed organized labor’s overall decline.

The 2012 platform urges elected officials across the country to change their laws regarding public-sector unions and follow the lead of Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, who spearheaded an effort to curb the ability of his state’s public employees to bargain collectively. The platform states, “We salute Republican governors and state legislators who have saved their states from fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing public employee unions.” Mr. Walker said that that legislation was needed to weaken overly powerful unions and balance Wisconsin’s budget, while labor leaders said the legislation aimed to destroy public-sector unions and cripple them politically. Continue reading “G.O.P. Platform Seeks to Weaken Powers of Unions”

GOP platform takes aim at federal workforce

GOP platform takes aim at federal workforce

The Republican Party unveiled its national platformTuesday, revealing its plan to downsize the federal workforce, trim federal benefits and privatize airport screeners.

The platform calls for a wholesale reinvention of the federal government, which has become “bloated, antiquated and unresponsive to taxpayers,” according to the plan.

“It is our intention not only to improve management and provide better services, but also to rethink and restructure government to bring it into the twenty-first century,” the drafters of the Republican plan wrote. Continue reading “GOP platform takes aim at federal workforce”

SEQUESTRATION FACT SHEET #2

SEQUESTRATION FACT SHEET #2

By Jeff Bratko, Steward AFGE Local 704

Sequestration Fact Sheet #1 explained that sequestration will result in automatic, spending cuts in most discretionary spending by Federal Agencies.  Sequestration is required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). Fact Sheet #1 discussed the potential impact of sequestration and noted that it does not appear that plans for dealing with sequestration are being shared with employees.  We also warned that waiting to make your own plans until specific information is available may be a costly mistake.

Fact Sheet #2 provides some additional information about sequestration and steps you can take to avoid falling off your personal fiscal cliff.

Is September 6, 2012 an important date? Continue reading “SEQUESTRATION FACT SHEET #2”

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