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Oppose Raising Estate Tax Exemptions NTEU is calling on members to oppose legislation boosting exemptions to the estate and gift tax, a move that would reduce vital federal resources and negatively impact hundreds of IRS employees. The Senate is expected to consider the measure (H.R. 5638), which the House passed last Thursday, later this week. The Senate recently rejected a plan to permanently abolish the federal estate tax. For more information, click here or visit <http:// capwiz.com/nteu/issues /alert/?alertid=8867736 &type=CO>.

NTEU Wins Far-Reaching Victory Against DHS Regs
NTEU today won a major legal victory when a federal appeals court upheld a lower court's decision declaring that wide portions of a regressive personnel system proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are illegal and may not be applied to employees.

The appeals court went even further than the district court, holding that DHS had improperly restricted the scope of bargaining to matters concerning employee-specific grievances only. This holding preserves a critical voice for the union on important workplace issues such as procedures for assigning overtime, among other matters.

NTEU's win imposes significant barriers to the administration’s plan to extend governmentwide similar personnel rules that take away longstanding federal employee rights. NTEU continues to fiercely oppose the administration’s so-called Working for America Act and any other personnel system that silences employee voices.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.
org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=919>.

To read coverage of the win in the Washington Post, click here or visit <www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/06/27/AR2006062700944.html>.

NTEU Pulls Double Duty on Capitol Hill Thursday
NTEU will be making rounds on both the House and Senate sides of Capitol Hill on Thursday.

That morning, NTEU will testify before a Senate subcommittee on legislation introduced by Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) dealing with the federal employee performance appraisal system. When it was introduced earlier this month, NTEU raised a number of serious questions concerning legislation, including whether the bill actually is needed. In testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, chaired by Voinovich, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley will ask why it is necessary to change a system that already addresses high and low performing employees by directly linking their appraisals with grade increases and within grade pay raises. She will also make the case that annual across-the-board and locality pay increases are necessary for achieving comparable pay between the federal government and private sector.

Later that same morning, NTEU will tell the House Committee on Government Reform why a recent Supreme Court decision will have a chilling effect on the willingness of federal employees to expose waste, fraud and public safety threats. During a hearing on the Supreme Court's Garcetti v. Ceballos decision, NTEU will underscore the urgent need for reforming whistleblower protection laws for federal employees.

The case involved Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, who wrote a memo outlining concerns about misrepresentations in a search warrant. Ceballos was later denied a promotion for refusing to rewrite the memo. NTEU filed an amicus brief in support of Ceballos.

NTEU Supports Hatch Act Rights for E-mails
Last week, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) sent back a high-profile case involving federal employee free speech rights to an administrative law judge (ALJ) for further proceedings. The cases involve two Social Security Administration workers who sent e-mails to a group of about 20 friends and family members expressing their views about the candidates in the week before the 2004 presidential election.

The ALJ originally dismissed complaints by the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) that the workers violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in workplace political activity. In its decision, the MSPB ordered that a more complete record of the facts of the case is needed to determine whether the e-mails in question violate the Hatch Act.

NTEU filed a brief with the MSPB in support of the workers in the case.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=917>.

Senate Approves Bill Boosting Federal Whistleblower Protections
The Senate on Friday approved an amendment that would strengthen protections for federal employees who disclose government waste, fraud and abuse. The amendment, offered by Sens. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Susan M. Collins (R-Maine), won unanimous bipartisan consent for inclusion in the fiscal 2007 National Defense Authorization Act. Among other things, the amendment would restore whistleblower protection for "any" disclosure of wrongdoings, protect whistleblowers whose security clearance revocation is based on retaliation and permit multi-circuit review of federal whistleblower cases for five years.

NTEU will work hard to secure approval of this language in the House-Senate conference on this bill. The urgency of enacting legislation to protect federal employees who expose threats to public safety has been heightened in the wake of the Supreme Court's May 30 decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos.

To read a statement on the amendment from President Kelley, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=918>.

NTEU Monitoring Effects of Recent Security Breaches on Employees
NTEU is working to ensure that meaningful steps are taken to prevent the risk of harm to employees following the recent series of security violations at federal agencies.

In recent months, data loss or theft have impacted military personnel as well as workers at federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Energy Department and, most recently, the Agriculture Department. Compromised data have included employee names, Social Security numbers and photos. With identity theft on the rise, NTEU is concerned about these breaches and is closely watching the response of agencies to ensure that appropriate practices, including free regular credit report monitoring for victimized employees, are in place and followed.

Vote Count Underway in CBP Representation Election
Ballot-counting began today in the election to determine a single union to represent the 21,000 bargaining unit employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP). NTEU representatives are currently at the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which is overseeing the election, serving as observers as voted are tallied. Ballots in the representation election—the largest ever conducted in the federal sector—were due to the FLRA on Thursday. Stay tuned to the e-Bulletin and www.CBPunion.org for election results.

NTEU Salutes FDA Employees As Agency Celebrates 100 Years of Service
NTEU congratulates employees of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as they gear up to celebrate the agency's 100th anniversary on Friday.

On June 30, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act and entrusted enforcement to the Bureau of Chemistry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which later became the FDA. Today, FDA employees are charged with ensuring the safety of the national food supply, medicines, cosmetics and many other consumer products.

NTEU recognizes the contributions of employees to fulfilling FDA's vital mission. For more on FDA's centennial celebrations, click here or visit <www.fda.gov/
centennial/>.


Headlines

IRS Resumes Work on Private Tax Debt Collection
Dow Jones MarketWatch, June 19, 2006
The Internal Revenue Service has restarted work on a private tax debt collection project after challenges to the contract were rejected, an IRS spokesman said.

The Government Accountability Office last week informed the IRS that it rejected challenges to a March contract to three private collection agencies, including a unit of Sallie Mae. The contract is to retrieve an estimated $1.4 billion in overdue taxes over the next 10 years.

Three collection agencies won the contract in March, but the IRS imposed a stop-work order after two losing bidders challenged the bidding procedures. Such challenges are common in government contracting cases.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, opposes the project, saying private collection agencies are far more expensive than IRS workers. Click here for the complete story.

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