Tag: Federal government of the United States

Executive Order Ruling – Call NOW!!!

Today, July 16, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, overturned a lower court decision that AFGE won rolling back Trump’s three 2018 Memorial Day Executive Orders (EOs.) The EOs gutted your rights in the workplace and your union’s ability to represent you. The Appeals Court reversed the District Court’s August 2018 decision – which had ruled that certain provisions of the orders were in violation of the Federal Labor Relations Statute– and said that the Unions have to challenge the EOs before the Federal Labor Relations Authority before jurisdiction could be had in federal court.

This ruling has come as a shock to AFGE Local 704 and other unions representing EPA federal employees–we’re still reeling from the EO-inspired unilateral management anti-worker directive (UMAD) imposed on July 8.
 
AFGE has sprung into action and has created a website for you to fight back. Join your union brothers and sisters across the country and call on members of Congress to stand with federal workers and protect our workplace rights. The union-busting framework laid out in the executive orders and the actions already taken with unilateral directives demonstrate clearly that there must be a check on the president’s power to destroy federal employees’ union rights. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121, ask to be connected to your Representative or Senator(s) office, and urge them to fight these EOs.

We have no time to be demoralized! See more Ways to Take Action: visit https://www.afge.org/fightback. Read the EO Summary.
 
See also the July/Aug. 2018 – Vol. LXXXVII No. 4 AFGE The Government Standard issue devoted to the 2018 EOs. 

Feds vs. Contractors: Federal Employees Often Save Money, But an Advisory Panel is Needed to Create a Cost Comparison Model

Feds vs. Contractors: Federal Employees Often Save Money, But an Advisory Panel is Needed to Create a Cost Comparison Model

 April 15, 2013 | By: Scott H. Amey, J.D.

April 15, 2013, POGO Letter to OMB

April 15, 2013

Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Office of Management and Budget
ATTN: Ms. Aisha Hasan
725 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20503

Submitted via regulations.gov

Subject: Public Comments on the Use of Cost Comparisons

Dear Ms. Hasan:

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) provides the following public comment regarding the use of cost comparisons outlined at 78 Fed. Reg. 11232 (February 15, 2013). Founded in 1981, POGO is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that champions good government reforms. POGO’s investigations into corruption, misconduct, and conflicts of interest achieve a more effective, accountable, open, and ethical federal government. POGO has a keen interest in government contracting matters, especially the important but often ignored issue of service contracting costs.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a public meeting on March 5, 2013, and requested public comments on “the practice of comparing the relative cost of performance by Federal employees versus contract performance in order to identify the most cost-effective source.” POGO hopes that all of the oral and written comments will be used to create a comprehensive cost comparison model that will be used when making human capital planning decisions.

Establishing a uniform, effective cost comparison model is one of the most, if not the most, important tasks facing the government today. This model, whether established by improving the A-76 process or building a new cost comparison process, must be initiated earlier in the human capital policy and planning phase. It also must compare the full life-cycle costs of outsourcing federal services to contractors with the costs of having those services performed by federal employees.

POGO realizes that such a system is difficult to create and will be subject to harsh criticism by all stakeholders involved. However, previous decisions to hire military or civilian personnel or to contract out have often been made without any strategic thinking about government operations and costs, and that needs to change. Continue reading “Feds vs. Contractors: Federal Employees Often Save Money, But an Advisory Panel is Needed to Create a Cost Comparison Model”

CBO —Option 36 Increase Federal Civilian Employees’ Contributions to Their Pensions

OPTIONS FOR REDUCING THE DEFICIT: 2014 TO 2023

Revenues—Option 36

Increase Federal Civilian Employees’ Contributions to Their Pensions

(Billions of dollars) 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2014-2018 2014-2023
Change in Revenues 0.6 1.4 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1 8.5 19.3

Note: This option would take effect in January 2014.

The federal government provides most of its civilian employees with an annuity in retirement through either the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or its predecessor, the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Those annuities are jointly funded by the employees and the federal agencies that hire them. About 85 percent of federal employees participate in FERS, and most of them contribute 0.8 percent of their salary toward their future annuities. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 increased the contribution rate to 3.1 percent for most employees hired after December 31, 2012. Federal employees who are still covered by CSRS generally contribute 7 percent of their salary and accrue larger annuities. Agency contributions for FERS and CSRS do not have any effect on total federal spending or revenues because they are intragovernmental payments, but employee contributions are counted as federal revenues. (Annuity payments made to FERS and CSRS beneficiaries represent federal spending.) Continue reading “CBO —Option 36 Increase Federal Civilian Employees’ Contributions to Their Pensions”

CBO Mandatory Spending—Option 10 Reduce the Amounts of Federal Pensions

Congressional Budget Office

Supporting the congress since 1975

November 13, 2013

OPTIONS FOR REDUCING THE DEFICIT: 2014 TO 2023

Mandatory Spending—Option 10

Function 600 – Income Security

Reduce the Amounts of Federal Pensions

(Billions of dollars) 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2014-2018 2014-2023
Change in Outlays
Military retirement 0 * * -0.1 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.2 -2.1
CSRS and FERS 0 * -0.1 -0.2 -0.2 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 -0.8 -0.5 -3.5
Total 0 * -0.1 -0.2 -0.4 -0.5 -0.7 -1.0 -1.2 -1.3 -0.8 -5.5

Notes: This option would take effect in January 2015.

* = between -$50 million and zero; CSRS = Civil Service Retirement System; FERS = Federal Employees Retirement System. Continue reading “CBO Mandatory Spending—Option 10 Reduce the Amounts of Federal Pensions”

Progressives Must Stand Up Against the Right Wing War on Public Employees

politics

Progressives Must Stand Up Against the Right Wing War on Public Employees

Robert Creamer

Political Organizer, Strategist, Author; Partner Democracy Partners

Posted: 12/09/2013 7:31 am

For many years the American Right — and many of the most powerful elements of corporate and Wall Street elite — have conducted a war on public employees.

Their campaign has taken many forms. They have tried to slash the number of public sector jobs, cut the pay and benefits of public sector workers, and do away with public employee rights to collective bargaining. They have discredited the value of the work performed by public employees — like teachers, police and firefighters — going so far as to argue that “real jobs” are created only by the private sector.

Last week a conservative court ruled that by going through bankruptcy the city of Detroit could rid itself of its obligation under the state constitution to make good on its pension commitments to its retirees. Continue reading “Progressives Must Stand Up Against the Right Wing War on Public Employees”

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