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NTEU Condemns Lower Military Raise;
Reiterates Call for Pay Parity
In what she called a “shameful decision during a time of war,” NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley blasted Congress’s approval of a meager 2.2 percent raise for the military in the fiscal 2007 Defense Authorization bill. This figure would be the smallest military raise in more than a decade.

NTEU has been fighting for a higher pay raise for both civilian and military employees since February when the administration proposed an average 2.2 percent raise in its 2007 budget.

As for the civilian pay raise, the House in June approved a 2.7 percent increase in the 2007 Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bill. A Senate Appropriations Committee approved that same figure in marking up its version of the bill, leaving it up to the full Senate to take action on the legislation after it returns in November.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=972>.

NTEU Urges Support for E&G Attorney Status Bills NTEU is strongly supporting legislation introduced in the House and Senate that would ensure a "soft landing" for Estate and Gift Tax (E&G) Attorneys impacted by proposed cuts. Bills advanced by Massachusetts Democrats Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch would grant competitive service status to those IRS attorneys who lose their jobs through the NTEU-opposed agency reorganization. This status change would allow them to transfer to other open positions in the federal government for which they are qualified. Under their current status of excepted service, attorneys are not covered by regular civil service hiring procedures and would be treated as outside job seekers when pursuing other federal positions. The IRS has said it will cut its workforce of tax attorneys from 345 to 157. To learn how you can help, click here or visit <http:// capwiz.com/nteu/home/>.

IRS Commissioner Again Admits that
In-House Employees Are the Best Value
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Mark Everson has for the second time acknowledged to Congress that it costs more to privatize tax debt collection than to have in-house employees perform the work.

In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Everson told lawmakers that the private collection firms the IRS hired have recovered half-a-million dollars from taxpayers in the first two weeks of the program. President Kelley pointed to Everson's statement as proof that the program makes no fiscal sense. IRS employees could have just as easily collected the taxes for pennies on the dollar, she said, but instead the agency will have to pay nearly $120,000 in commissions plus an anticipated $57 million in program start-up costs.

NTEU was recently joined in its opposition to tax debt privatization by eight major public interest organizations, who together sent a letter to every senator stressing their concerns about exposing taxpayers to an industry "with a long record of abuse." The coalition urged senators to support legislation (S. 3887) that would halt the IRS program.

For the complete story and for the list of groups who signed the letter, click here or visit <www.nteu.
org/PressKits/Press Release/PressRelease.aspx?ID=962>.

For NTEU's response to Everson's testimony, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=970>.

NTEU Calls on DHS to End 'Environment of Mistrust'
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should show the "same sound judgment in charting the future of its labor relations program” as it did when the agency decided last week not to seek Supreme Court review of NTEU’s legal victories nullifying proposed new personnel regulations.

This was President Kelley's message to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in a letter sent Thursday. Kelley pressed Chertoff not only to hold managers accountable for complying with their statutory and contractual obligations, but also to encourage employee input in workplace matters. DHS's failure to do both has “precipitated an unprecedented level of litigation and employee dissatisfaction,” Kelley said.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.cbpunion.org/PressRelease/
PressRelease.aspx?ID=969>.


Headlines

Congress Withholds Millions From DHS Personnel System
GovExec, October 2, 2006
Lawmakers last week cut millions of dollars in requested funding for the Homeland Security Department's new personnel system.

After House-Senate negotiations, the two bodies settled on $25 million for the system in fiscal 2007. That figure, which was included in the DHS appropriations bill conference report completed Thursday and approved late Friday by the House and Senate, is less than the $71.5 million requested in the president's budget and the $29.7 million Congress gave the system last year.

The entire personnel system has been delayed by a court case initiated by unions in which a panel of judges said the proposed labor relations portion of the system was illegal because it did not provide for adequate collective bargaining rights. Most recently, DHS lost its last avenue for appeal when the solicitor general declined to bring the department's case to the Supreme Court. Without labor reforms, DHS has been unable to bring its unionized employees into the human resources system.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, one of the unions that sued DHS, called the funding cut "a major victory, both for NTEU and the dedicated men and women of DHS." Federal employee unions have fought the system because they say it will encourage cronyism and salary cuts in the long term. For the complete story, click here or visit <www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35172&dcn=todaysnews>.


New on NTEU.org

Get the 'Status' on NTEU Fight For Fair Pay at Agencies
Step inside the courtroom with NTEU and get a behind-the-scenes look at the union's high-profile legal battles in the latest edition of Status Call. Read about NTEU's successful lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security personnel regulations, as well as key arbitration cases at the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. Find out how NTEU is challenging subjective pay-for-performance schemes at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Securities and Exchange Commission, and is working to secure more pay for bilingual employees at the IRS. To read the June-August Status Call, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/UnionOffice/StatusCall/Default.aspx>.