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Legislators Home For Memorial Day This week, lawmakers are getting ready to pack their bags and return to their home offices for the Memorial Day recess, which runs from May 28 through June 1. To find your representatives' contact information, click here or visit <http:// capwiz.com/nteu/dbq/ officials/?lvl=C>. For fact sheets on NTEU's legislative issues, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/ UnionOffice/Legislative Issues/>.

NTEU Certified as CBP Employees' Sole Representative
It's official. Employees in the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now have a single voice in the workplace.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) yesterday certified NTEU as the sole representative of CBP employees, excluding Border Patrol agents. Joining NTEU's fold are Immigration and Naturalization Service and Agriculture Department employees, as well as CBP Officers hired since July 2004 who have since been unrepresented.

Last Friday, the FLRA rejected the final appeal of the American Federation of Government Employees, which lost last year's representation election at CBP.

"It is particularly important, in an agency with as many serious morale problems as are present in CBP, that employees speak with a single voice," said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. "FLRA certification of NTEU provides just such a vital mechanism." (Complete Story)

In other good news, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Friday voted to deny funding next year for the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) regressive new personnel system. The subcommittee action on the fiscal 2008 DHS appropriations bill comes as the full House voted earlier this month to repeal the rules in the DHS authorization bill.

Kelley called the latest vote another sign of “the growing bipartisan understanding in Congress” that the DHS regulations would fail both employees and the nation by jeopardizing the agency’s ability to recruit and retain a skilled workforce.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=1104>.

Kelley to Testify Before House Committee Investigating Tax Collection Outsourcing
President Kelley will outline NTEU's reasons for opposing the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) tax debt privatization program in testimony tomorrow before the House Ways and Means Committee.

In announcing the hearing, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), the committee chair, called the IRS use of private companies “an affront to the integrity of our tax system,” adding that collecting taxes “is a basic government function and one that should not be assigned to profit-making businesses.”

In March, Rangel launched an investigation into the initiative, citing numerous taxpayer complaints and allegations of illegal debt collector tactics.

Kelley's testimony will list compromised taxpayer fairness, high program costs and failed pilot programs as reasons why the privatization initiative should be repealed. She will reiterate NTEU's support of pending legislation both in the Senate (S. 335) and House (H.R. 695) that would revoke the IRS’s authority to use private debt collectors.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=1101>.

To watch President Kelley's live testimony at 10 a.m. tomorrow, click here or visit <http://waysandmeans.house.gov/>.

2008 Pay Raise Update
House Passes 3.5 Percent Military Pay Raise
The House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a 3.5 percent pay raise members of the military next year, possibly setting a precedent for a higher increase for civilian employees.

The administration proposed a 3 percent increase for military and civilian employees in its fiscal 2008 budget, but NTEU has been fighting for a higher boost for both groups.

The Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee began working today on its version of the legislation and the full committee is expected to report its bill before Memorial Day. As this important legislation is considered by lawmakers, NTEU will continue pressing for the 3.5 percent pay raise for military personnel and the entire federal workforce.

IRS Extends Survey Deadline to Friday
In response to NTEU's request, the IRS has extended the deadline for employees to take the 2007 survey to this Friday, May 25.

President Kelley asked the IRS for the extra time after some employees who had tried taking the survey reported problems, including glitches with the telephone response system. The IRS has since resolved these problems, but NTEU wants to ensure that all employees who wish to speak their mind about workplace issues have an opportunity to do so.

After two years of boycotts, NTEU is asking employees to take this year's survey and tell it like it is. NTEU will make sure Congress, the IRS and the public know what employees have to say, and will use responses to address workplace issues.


Headlines

Groups Push Senate for More Open Government
Federal Computer Week, May 17, 2007
Senate leaders received a letter today from 100 groups asking them to pass the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National (OPEN) Government Act and restore confidence in government.

“The OPEN Government Act of 2007 would demonstrate bipartisan congressional leadership to restore public faith in government and to advance the ideals of openness that our democracy embodies,” according to the letter dated March 17.

The groups, which include the Project on Government Oversight and the National Treasury Employees Union, say the “FOIA’s promise of ensuring an open and accountable government has been seriously undermined by the excessive processing delays that FOIA requesters face across the government,” according to the letter.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.fcw.com/article102744-05-17-07-Web>.

New on NTEU.org Make NTEU's Military Tribute Part of Your Memorial Day This year, you can add visiting NTEU's web site to your list of Memorial Day activities. NTEU's online Military Tribute has been growing by the week and now features more than 70 profiles of NTEU members and their relatives currently serving in the U.S. armed forces. Thanks to the participation of proud NTEU members across the country, the four-page tribute features more than a dozen new profiles added in past days. To visit NTEU's Military Tribute, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/UnionOffice/Militaryprofiles.aspx>. To submit your own military profile and a photo, e-mail us.