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Countdown to FEEA Scholarship Application Deadline 17 Days Apply today   NTEU Members Rack Up 48 Co-Sponsors of LEO Bill NTEU members make a difference. The latest proof of this came this week when NTEU learned that 48 co-sponsors were added to legislation extending law enforcement officer (LEO) status to CBP Officers and IRS Revenue Officers. This good news comes on the heels of NTEU's Legislative Conference, where nearly 350 NTEU members met with their congressional representatives to advance the bill, H.R. 1073, along with federal employee issues such as fair pay and affordable health care (read more). For more information on the legislation, a listing of co-sponsors and details on how you can build on the momentum, visit www.cbpunion.org/LEO.

NTEU Links Walter Reed Fiasco to Outsourcing
NTEU pointed to the abysmal conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital as the latest example of contracting out gone bad.

At issue are contracting rules under the Office of Management and Budget’s Circular A-76 that strongly favor private sector companies in competitions for federal work, NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said. Many federal employees in A-76 competitions risk losing their jobs in a reduction-in-force even if their bid wins. In the face of this lose-lose situation, employees leave their jobs and important federal work suffers when agencies cannot fill the positions.

At Walter Reed, the long public-private competition held for maintenance services caused the departure of experienced personnel.

Ironically, IAP Worldwide Services, the company awarded the Walter Reed contract, is the same private contractor which in November said it would be unable to meet a contractual deadline for managing taxpayer files at the Internal Revenue Service, leaving the agency scrambling for staffing.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.
org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1054>.

NTEU Will Demand Bargaining Over
DHS Implementation of New Rules
NTEU will assert its right to bargain over harmful personnel rules the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) intends to apply "as soon as practicable."

DHS gave notice last week that it plans to roll out portions of its proposed regulations dealing with adverse actions, appeals and performance management. The department tried to gut employee collective bargaining rights, but NTEU won three federal court decisions blocking that provision of the personnel system.

In addition to demanding bargaining, NTEU is working with members of Congress to repeal DHS's authority to make changes to the current personnel system by agency regulation.

The changes DHS plans to implement would:

• deny employees a reasonable performance improvement period prior to suspension or removal for unacceptable performance;

• slant the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) process in favor of management and make it almost impossible for MSBP to mitigate unreasonable penalties;

• and change the procedures for adverse action appeals including shorter deadlines and restrictive discovery rules.

“DHS management has made a series of poor decisions that have caused morale among its employees to plummet," said President Kelley. "This will only add to that long list of harmful decisions.”

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=1055>.


Investing in IRS Staffing Would Narrow the Tax Gap, Kelley Testifies
President Kelley continued her push for increased staffing at the IRS to combat the $290 billion tax gap when she testified before the IRS Oversight Board on Wednesday.

Additional staffing would allow the IRS to meet its rising workload, strengthen tax compliance and customer service, and effectively narrow the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid, Kelley said.

She recommended several steps, including:

• Increase staffing by two percent each year, or 1,885 positions annually, over a five-year period to rebuild the depleted IRS workforce.

• Allow the IRS to retain a small portion of the revenue it collects so that the agency can hire additional personnel outside its budget and collect more revenue.

• Hire sufficient IRS personnel, not private collection agencies, to pursue tax debts. In-house employees can do the work at a much lower cost than contractors.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=1051>.


NTEU Supports FLRA Nominee Carol Pope
NTEU is urging the Senate to promptly confirm the reappointment of Carol Waller Pope to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which has had one of its three seats open since her term expired last December.

"The vital role of the FLRA is too important to leave seats open for any period of time," said Kelley, who first expressed her support for Pope in January.

NTEU's position was echoed by Sens. Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) and Joseph Lieberman (Conn.) who called on the White House to nominate Pope not only because of her vast experience, which includes two decades serving the FLRA in various roles, but also because she would fill the Democratic seat on the FLRA.


Headlines

Panelists Suggest Focus on Job Performance First, Pay Later
GovExec, March 9, 2007
Agencies should focus on developing sound systems for evaluating and improving employees' job performance before they factor pay into the equation, witnesses told members of a House panel at a hearing Thursday.

Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, called the hearing to "come up with a better idea on how to move forward" on personnel reforms. The Bush administration would eventually like to see agencies across government shed the decades-old General Schedule pay scale in favor of a system based on pay for performance.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said she is not opposed to change, but would like agencies to ensure that any personnel reforms incorporate a fair and credible compensation system that promotes teamwork and focuses on leadership.

"Rules and systems don't motivate people," she said. "Leaders do."

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0307/
030907b1.htm>.


New on NTEU.org

NTEU Takes On Runaway Contracting in New Web Page
A new page on NTEU.org, posted in the aftermath of the Walter Reed scandal, shines a harsh spotlight on the pitfalls of contracting out.

The scandal over the substandard maintenance at the Washington, D.C., hospital traces back to January 2006, when the U.S. Army awarded a five-year, $120 million support contract to IAP Worldwide Service. As is too often the case with government contracting, oversight became a serious issue and last September, high-ranking officials at Walter Reed complained that the competition had caused the departure “of highly skilled and experienced personnel.”

The web site recaps other recent episodes where federal contractors dropped the ball on essential government work, including when IAP folded under the pressure of a deadline and failed to deliver on a contract to take over work managing taxpayer files at IRS campus sites.

For more information on runaway contracting and NTEU's battle against it, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/contractingout.aspx>.

MILITARY PROFILE OF THE WEEK                                   Charles Colby Combat Engineer, North Dakota Army National Guard NTEU Chapter 157, CBP Pembina/Noyes The one-time college basketball player was mobilized for active duty service as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom in August 2005. Three months later, Colby reported to Iraq where he was quickly thrown into action helping to clear improvised explosive devices around Balad Air Base near Baghdad. Read more about Combat Engineer Colby. Look for more profiles in a future NTEU Bulletin.