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NTEU To Hold Anti-Outsourcing Rally Tomorrow NTEU will bring the megaphones, signs and leaflets. We now need a few good federal employees to join us for a rally against government outsourcing. Federal workers in the Washington, D.C., area are encouraged to attend a noontime rally tomorrow, March 1, outside the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service headquarters, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW. The goal is to send a loud and clear message that outsourcing tax collection is detrimental to both the IRS and taxpayers. This event is part of NTEU's three-day Legislative Conference which began today. For more information, click here or visit <www.nteu. org/UnionOffice/LegConf erence/default.aspx>.

NTEU Leaders Descend on Capitol Hill
For Annual Legislative Conference
Hundreds of leaders of NTEU chapters nationwide are in Washington, D.C., to draw the attention of lawmakers to the issues impacting federal employees.

Delegates to the union's annual Legislative Conference were greeted this morning with remarks by NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, Director Linda Springer of the Office of Personnel Management and U.S. Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD). Carrying with them the concerns of NTEU members back home, attendees then took to Capitol Hill for the first of three intensive days of face-to-face visits with their congressional representatives. The conference wraps up Thursday with scheduled speaker Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), whose district includes employees of the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Other highlights of the event include a candlelight vigil this evening honoring CBP officers killed in the line of duty and an anti-outsourcing rally tomorrow on the steps of the IRS headquarters (see sidebar).

For a closer look at this week's event and NTEU's legislative priorities, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/UnionOffice/
LegConference/default.aspx>.

NTEU Wins IRS Mailroom Outsourcing Lawsuit
NTEU won a federal court ruling last week declaring that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) illegally awarded mailroom work to a private contractor without allowing federal employees to first compete for their jobs.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 when the IRS used appropriated funds to contract out its mailroom function, causing 44 IRS employees—many of whom are disabled—to lose their jobs. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 prohibits agencies from using appropriated funds to convert federal jobs without public-private competitions.

The court directed NTEU and the IRS to file additional briefs regarding an appropriate remedy. NTEU is requesting that the displaced employees be reinstated and receive back pay.

The lawsuit is the culmination of a comprehensive effort by NTEU to eliminate direct conversions on Capitol Hill, and if necessary, in the courts to ensure that federal agencies follow the law.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=822>.


Service to America Medals Nominations Deadline Extended
Federal employees have an extra week—until March 8—to nominate a deserving colleague for a prestigious 2006 Service to America Medal. The Partnership for Public Service and Atlantic Media Company gives out these awards, also known as Sammies, each year to honor the accomplishments of exceptional federal employees. Medals and cash prizes in nine categories will be handed out this fall at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. For details and a nomination form, click here or visit <www2.govexec.com/SAM/>.


Headlines

Indebted
GovExec, February 23, 2006
Federal employees once again are bailing the United States out of a sticky debt situation. Treasury Secretary John Snow told Congress that the country was perilously close to reaching its debt ceiling, forcing him to dip into federal employee retirement savings to keep government operations running.

Specifically, until Congress raises the $8 trillion federal debt limit, Snow is freezing some reinvestments of the Thrift Savings Plan's government securities (G) fund.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, is among those opposed in principle to the move. She called on Congress to raise the debt ceiling and leave the G Fund alone.

"It is not appropriate to use federal employees' retirement funds for general government expenses," Kelley said.

Kelley said her position stands despite the make-whole law because "federal workers are left with an uneasy feeling of concern about having money they are counting on for their retirement being used for another purpose."  For the complete story, click here or visit <www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0206/022306pb.htm>.