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Apply Today For Largest- Ever FEEA Scholarships Applications for the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund (FEEA) 2007–08 scholarship program are now available. This year, for the first time ever, top candidates from this program will be eligible for the new $5,000 FEEA-NTEU scholarships. At least five of the $5,000 FEEA-NTEU scholarships will be handed out and can be combined with FEEA scholarship awards to make your educational dollars go further. For more information on NTEU’s donation to FEEA and the establishment of the endowed FEEA-NTEU program, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/FEEA.aspx>. The 2007–08 FEEA Scholarship application is available by clicking here or visiting <www.feea.org/files/ feea_fillapp_0708.pdf>. Applications are due by March 30, 2007.

Repeal IRS Private Debt Collection Program
Olson Makes Call in Annual Report

Congress should act immediately on today’s call by the independent National Taxpayer Advocate for a repeal of authority to use private sector debt collectors by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to pursue tax debts.
 
“Paying debt collectors a bounty of up to 25 percent of the money they collect is a waste of taxpayers dollars and exposes taxpayers to the risk of identity theft and overly aggressive collection tactics,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).
 
Olson’s report lists the “true costs and benefits of private debt collection” as one of the 21 “most serious problems” facing taxpayers and recommends its repeal stating, “The IRS now acknowledges that it can collect these delinquent accounts more efficiently than PCAs.”
 
In asking Congress to repeal the act, Olson said the government “has the ‘privilege’ of paying up to 25 percent of any taxes collected to private collection agencies, even while estimates show that IRS employees could perform the work far more efficiently, with a return on investment of approximately 13:1. We ask, in this report, what business case exists for such an arrangement, and conclude that there is none.”
 
For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.
org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1004>.
 
To find out more about the Taxpayer Advocate’s annual report and other issues with the IRS’s private debt collection program visit www.nteuIRSwatch.org.

View a message from NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley.

 

H.R. 1 Would Provide Bargaining Rights for TSA Employees
NTEU is strongly supporting legislation—H.R. 1—that would grant to employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) the same collective bargaining rights as other workers in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
 
H.R. 1 is a broad package of legislation implementing many recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and includes language that requires TSA employees have the same employment rights, including collective bargaining, as other federal employees. The legislation terminates the current personnel system and gives the DHS Secretary the option of moving TSA employees to one of the personnel management systems currently in place for other federal employees.
 
President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) had called on the newly-convened House of Representatives to include the TSA collective bargaining language in early legislation, and she commended Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee for his leadership in obtaining that result.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=1003>.

Recess Appointment to FLRA Draws NTEU Fire
NTEU expressed disappointment with the president’s action in making a recess appointment of a Republican to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) without also nominating a Democrat as is required under federal law.

The White House took this action even though Senators Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) requested that the president nominate a Democrat in the wake of the expired term of Carol Waller Pope. NTEU strongly supports Ms. Pope’s reappointment to another term on the Authority.

The FLRA plays a key role in overseeing federal sector labor-management relations and federal law requires that no more than two of its three members be from the same political party. With the appointment of Wayne Beyer and the failure of the president to name a Democrat the current two members of the FLRA are both from the Republican party.

While NTEU is not advancing substantive objections to the Beyer nomination, the union will oppose his confirmation to a full term as an FLRA member so long as the president continues to ignore his statutory responsibility to nominate a Democrat to this body.

NTEU Spotlight—Listen to This Week’s Report
The spotlight this week shines brightly on the IRS’s flawed private tax debt collection program. President Kelley urges Congress to heed the Taxpayer Advocate’s call to repeal the IRS authority to contract with private debt collectors, a program NTEU has long opposed. Kelley also notes NTEU’s support for language in H.R. 1 that would provide collective bargaining rights to employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), putting them on equal footing with many other employees at the Department of Homeland Security.

In the Washington, D.C., area you can hear President Kelley’s NTEU Spotlight on Federal News Radio (1050 AM). For those outside the D.C. area, you can listen online at www.federalnewsradio.com.

To preview this week’s report, click here.


Headlines

Union: Proposed fines against SSA employees ‘dangerous precedent’
Federal Times, January 04, 2007
Four Social Security Administration employees face substantial monetary fines in a case that could open the door to other employees being penalized for work-related actions.
 
The fines are being proposed by the agency’s inspector general against three attorneys and one supervisor in SSA’s Des Moines, Iowa, office. The IG has accused the workers of improperly applying expert testimony obtained in one disability benefits case to resolve more than 700 other cases involving similar circumstances, according to Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.
 
The employees were working under specific direction of an administrative law judge in the Des Moines office who has since died. The supervisor faces a $3.5 million fine, while the other employees face fines of between $100,000 and $215,000 each.
 
NTEU has filed a grievance on behalf of the employees. It is arguing that, as federal employees, the workers are immune from personal liability because they were acting in their official capacity.
 
To read the complete story, click here or visit <http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2460927>


New on NTEU.org

NTEU Suggests New Year’s Resolutions for White House
With the start of the New Year, NTEU has thoughtfully provided to the White House what the union believes should be its top five resolutions for 2007. Check out the list in a new flier.

While resolutions can be hard to keep, evidence has shown that people are more likely to keep their resolutions when others are encouraging them to stick to the plan. Let’s encourage the president to adopt these resolutions and stick to them.

Get Your NTEU-Customized Version of the Federal Employees Almanac
Being a well-informed employee means keeping your knowledge of workplace policies and procedures current. Covering a host of important topics and written in an easy-to-understand format, the 2007 Federal Employees Almanac can help you do this.

NTEU has a very limited supply of customized almanacs available for sale on a first-come, first-served basis. Because keeping federal employees up to date is important to NTEU, we are offering this helpful resource for only $9.75 each; the list price is $15.95. Pre-order yours today by clicking here. Offer good while supplies last. Almanacs will be shipped in February.