Top Stories

House Delays Vote on Sunset Commissions The House has postponed voting on two NTEU-opposed bills that would establish one or more "sunset" commissions to decide the future of federal programs. Lawmakers were originally scheduled to vote on the measures last week. Under H.R. 5766, recommendations made by these unelected commissions would be pushed through Congress on a fast track with limited debate and little opportunity for lawmakers to offer amendments. A second bill, H.R. 3282, calls for the automatic termination of agencies and programs unless Congress reaffirms them within a year. To learn more about NTEU's opposition to these bills, click here or visit <http:// capwiz.com/nteu/issues/ alert/?alertid=8927841 &type=CO>.

Further Doubts Cast on Pay-for-Performance
NTEU has won an important arbitration victory that not only points to problems with the pay-for-performance system at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), but exposes potential flaws in efforts to extend similar plans throughout the government.

An arbitrator ruled that it was illegal for ATF to unilaterally split performance-based pay increases 50-50 between base pay and lump sum payments for employees under a pay demonstration project. The NTEU-ATF agreement provides employees the option of receiving their performance pay as a lump sum or base pay increase. The favorable decision restores the right of more than 100 employees to make that choice.

NTEU has repeatedly warned that without adequate funding, pay-for-performance plans are doomed to fail. This was substantiated by ATF's testimony in the case, in which the agency cited budgetary concerns as the reason it had to split the payments. Despite the lack of funding, the arbitrator said, the program remains a negotiated agreement that cannot be changed without bargaining with NTEU. In his decision, the arbitrator referred to NTEU's legal victory against the Department of Homeland Security regulations in which an appeals court ruled that a contract that permits one party to make unilateral decisions is not collective bargaining.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.
org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=943>.

NTEU Calls for Increased IRS Workforce,
Dedicated Funding to Close Tax Gap
With the tax gap topping $345 billion, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) needs to take meaningful steps to collect the money owed to the federal government—and that means hiring more frontline employees and setting aside dedicated funding for necessary resources. This was President Kelley's message in testimony submitted last week to the Senate Finance Committee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, which was examining ways to narrow the difference between taxes owed and collected.

The IRS is instead moving forward with two counter-productive plans—cutting customer service, which will reduce voluntary tax law compliance, and contracting out tax collection work, an initiative that is costly and infringes upon taxpayer privacy. What's more, Kelley added, the IRS plans to cut by nearly half the number of estate and gift tax attorneys. According to the IRS, these employees find an average of $2,200 in taxes owed for each hour they work.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=940>.

NTEU Opposes OPM Changes to Overtime Pay Regulations
NTEU is taking issue with proposed changes by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that would threaten the overtime rights of many federal employees.

In comments submitted to OPM, President Kelley called on the agency to amend its proposed changes to the regulations identifying the executive, administrative and professional federal employees who are exempt from overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). While existing rules ensure FLSA rights of all employees classified as GS-4 or below, OPM proposes to give automatic protection to employees making less than $23,660 per year. Kelley warned that OPM's proposal to adopt a dollar-based minimum-salary test would lead to "irrational disparities." If the changes are approved, executive and administrative employees could lose their overtime rights even at GS-1 levels if their locality pay pushes them beyond the minimum-salary level, Kelley said.

NTEU also made a number of other strong suggestions for changing the OPM proposal in such areas as temporary assignments, the use of discretion and independent judgment, and the scope of the exemption for administrative work

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=939>.

Headlines

IRS to Cut Estate Tax Auditing Workforce With Buyouts
GovExec, July 28, 2006
The Internal Revenue Service plans to offer buyouts to cut 157 of its 345 estate tax lawyers as well as 17 support personnel, according to internal plans leaked to The New York Times and confirmed by the agency.

Twenty-two members of Congress, led by Rep. Steven Rothman, D-N.J., on Friday sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson asking that he delay implementation of the plan until details have been presented to Congress and members have had a chance to fully review them.

The National Treasury Employees Union was highly critical of the IRS plan. "There's no way to assume that two months is a reasonable time frame for employees to make these very serious and life-changing decisions," about retirement, said President Colleen Kelley.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid
=34654&dcn=todaysnews>. To read NTEU's press release on the issue, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=944>.

Kelley Takes to the Radio with NTEU Opposition to E&G Attorney Cuts
In recent days, radio listeners around the country had multiple opportunities to hear NTEU's take on the IRS's planned reduction in estate and gift tax (E&G) attorneys. NTEU President Kelley appeared on three radio talk shows blasting the plan including Federal New Radio's "Your Turn With Mike Causey" last week, and earlier today, the WWRL Morning Show with Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams (serving New York, New Jersey and Connecticut) and the Thom Hartmann show on Air America.

During her appearance on "Your Turn With Mike Causey", Kelley took the IRS to task for its misguided proposals to privatize tax debt collection and significantly reduce its workforce of estate and gift tax attorneys. She also updated federal employees on the issues affecting their paychecks, including NTEU's fight for a higher 2007 pay raise and its opposition to extending pay-for-performance plans to agencies governmentwide.

To listen to the July 25 broadcast, click here or visit <www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=251
&sid=759670>.



Kelley to Appear on Friday's Edition of 'FedTalk'
President Kelley will cap off two busy weeks of radio appearances this Friday at 10 a.m. when she will be the featured guest on Federal News Radio's FedTalk. The NTEU leader will discuss issues affecting employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, including NTEU's legal victory against the Department of Homeland Security personnel regulations.

To submit questions by e-mail or listen online, click here or visit <www.federalnews
radio.com/index.php?nid=16>.