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Help Build Opposition To IRS Outsourcing Program Is your representative on board with NTEU's fight against outsourcing tax debt collection? Find out by logging on to the newest page on nteuIRSwatch.org, where you can check if your members of Congress are supporting newly-introduced legislation that would ban the IRS outsourcing program. If your representatives have not yet signed on as cosponsors, NTEU provides an easy way to get involved and spread the word on the importance of these bills. For more information, click here or visit <www.nteuirs watch.org/legislation.htm>.

NTEU Criticizes President's Take On
Federal Pay, Benefits in 2008 Budget
NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley vowed to fight White House proposals to provide a meager three percent federal pay raise in 2008 and increase health premium costs for some retirees. The proposals, part of the president's 2008 budget released yesterday, are "yet another disappointing reflection of the administration’s disregard for federal employees and their contributions," Kelley said.

Kelley took aim at a proposal Congress rejected last year that would further reduce the federal pay raise by funding special rate pay out of any increase. Citing the continuing lag between public and private sector pay, Kelley promised to work closely with lawmakers to secure a minimum 3.5 percent increase.

A second proposal would slash government contributions to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP)
for retirees with less than 10 years of service. Currently, the government pays roughly 72 percent of FEHBP premium costs and employees and retirees pay the remainder.

Kelley questioned the logic of these proposals, which would make it more difficult to attract bright, young workers to public service in the midst of a government-wide retirement wave.

For more on the pay proposal click here. To read about the FEHBP proposal, click here.

NTEU Presses Agencies To Address Employee Dissatisfaction
Federal agencies cannot afford to ignore a new employee survey showing a serious crisis in confidence in leadership, President Kelley said following last week's release of the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey.

According to the Office of Personnel Management survey, 30 percent or more of employees at several NTEU-represented agencies expressed a lack of confidence and overall dissatisfaction with their leadership. The agencies include the Treasury Department, National Credit Union Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and Department of Interior.

Kelley attributed these troubling findings to the lack of respect management shows for workers and its reluctance to deal with employee representatives to address workplace concerns.

"These issues must be addressed for the good of the nation, the agency and its employees," she added.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=1025>.

2007 Spending Measure Includes NTEU-Supported Funding Boosts for Agencies
There is good news for employees at NTEU-represented agencies in the continuing resolution (CR) the House passed Wednesday to fund the government through the remainder of this fiscal year.

The spending measure provides enough funding to prevent furloughs in the Social Security Administration (SSA) and alleviate budget pressures at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). NTEU pressed lawmakers for the much-needed funding increases for these and other NTEU-represented agencies when Congress was doing its budget work at the end of last year.

Under the resolution, SSA will be funded at $9.1 billion—$43.6 million more than the figure allocated by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The FDA will receive $1.965 billion for rest of fiscal 2007, a boost from the $1.941 billion approved by the committee.

In addition, the House voted to cut another $5 million from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) MaxHR personnel system, leaving only $20 million for its development. This is substantially less than the $71.4 million sought by the While House in its 2007 budget and the $25 million approved in the Homeland Security appropriations bill. NTEU has been leading the successful fight against DHS's regressive personnel system on two fronts, winning a major lawsuit blocking MaxHR from taking effect and working with lawmakers to reduce spending for it.

The Senate is expected to consider the CR this week.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.cbpunion.org/PressRelease/PressRelease
.aspx?ID=1022>.

NTEU Supports Bipartisan Call To Suspend FDA Lab Closings
NTEU is strongly supporting a letter from a bipartisan group of senators calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to suspend plans to close a substantial number of regional laboratories that test the safety and effectiveness of food, drugs and medical equipment.

FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) intends to shut down as many as nine of its 14 labs, with a final decision expected in April. Since the proposal was first announced in December, NTEU has been warning lawmakers and the media that the consolidation is shortsighted and dangerous because it would cause many experienced scientists to leave the federal service rather than relocate.

The lawmakers, led by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), agreed with NTEU's position.

"We recognize that FDA faces serious budget constraints that force difficult choices, but it is far from clear that consolidating ORA labs is a reasonable response to these difficult constraints," they wrote in a Jan. 29 letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=1020>.

NTEU Critical of Further Appeal of CBP Election
President Kelley slammed Thursday's announcement by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) that it plans to file a second appeal of NTEU's victory in the election to choose a single union to represent employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“We were hoping that AFGE would do the right thing and cooperate with us on a smooth transition," said Kelley, "but I can only conclude that AFGE is pursuing some goal that does not include the best interests of CBP employees."

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Regional Director on Jan. 17 ordered NTEU's immediate certification as the election winner, dismissing all objections in AFGE's first appeal.

An AFGE appeal could push certification of the election results to May, further delaying NTEU from getting to work on key contract improvements and bringing representation to thousands of CBP Officers hired since July 2004.

For more information, visit www.CBPunion.org/election.

Need Cash for College? FEEA Can Help

If the high cost of college has you singing the blues, relief is in sight. The Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund (FEEA) can help you and your family meet your educational goals with its scholarship program, including the first-ever $5,000 FEEA-NTEU scholarship.

To get the rules for help with school, log on to FEEA.org to download eligibility requirements and an application for the merit-based scholarships, which over the past 20 years have totaled more than $6.5 million for federal and postal employees and their family members. The FEEA-NTEU scholarship, established last October, will provide at least five, $5,000 awards annually.

FEEA can't take your tests for you, but it can help pay your tuition bills. The application deadline is March 30. Number 2 pencils are not required.


Headlines

President Proposes Cuts to 141 Programs
GovExec, February 5, 2007
President Bush on Monday proposed a fiscal 2008 budget that would reduce deficits by limiting discretionary spending outside the security arena to below the level of inflation.

The proposed budget would eliminate or sharply cut 141 federal programs, administration officials said, increasing most discretionary spending by 1 percent over the president's fiscal 2007 request while raising security-related spending 2.9 percent and cementing the president's temporary tax cuts.

Introducing the budget Monday, Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman described the proposal as "a credible, and more transparent budget" than in past years, in part due to the incorporation of spending on the war in Iraq, a major expense that previously has been funded through supplemental requests submitted outside the regular budget process.

Portman said increased spending would be supported in part by improvements aimed at minimizing the taxes that go uncollected every year.

But the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents many IRS employees, criticized the agency's proposed budget, noting that it calls for a slight decrease in full-time employees from the staffing level at the end of fiscal 2006.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?
articleid=36054&dcn=todaysnews>.


New on NTEU.org

NTEU Celebrates the Everyday Accomplishments of Black Americans

Chances are, you don't go a day without utilizing an invention by an African-American. From the pencil sharpener, to your car's turn signals, to the dry cleaning process, the list of contributions from black inventors goes on and on. Then there are the groundbreaking black physicians who opened the first blood bank and performed the first successful open heart surgery. And did you know a black scientist is credited with proving insects can hear?

In celebration of Black History Month, NTEU has devoted a web page to African American trailblazers who have improved our lives not only through science and technology, but also in the areas of business, the arts, education and government. To visit NTEU's Black History Month page, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/blackhistory.aspx>.