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An Election Message from NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley

In less than a week you will once again have an opportunity to make your voice heard by national leaders. The 2006 mid-term elections provide all American citizens with the chance to walk into a polling station and vote for the candidates of their choosing.

I strongly encourage you to take advantage of your right to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7. As a federal employee, you understand the important role that a national government plays in the life of our country. Those elected to national office are an integral part of our federal government and every two years you can play a part in deciding who those people will be.

Your vote counts. In some races the winner is decided by a relative handful of votes and your vote could tip the scales one way or the other. Do not let this golden opportunity to play a vital role in our civic life pass you by.

On Tuesday, make voting a priority.

 

IRS Private Tax Collection An Outrageous Giveaway of Public Money
A government report on the use by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of private debt collectors to pursue taxes reveals that the program is “nothing more than an outrageous giveaway of taxpayer money to private companies,” NTEU said today.

Say No to Tax Collection Outsourcing Although the IRS has already begun assigning taxpayer cases to private debt collectors, it’s not too late to stop this outrageous program. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) introduced legislation (S. 3887) that would suspend this program in 2007 and beyond. For more on the bill, click here or visit <http:// capwiz.com/nteu/ issues/alert/?alertid= 9009491&type=CO>.

The IRS’s own figures prove that, said President Colleen M. Kelley, in the wake of a report on the tax debt privatization program issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The GAO report shows IRS estimates of collections ranging from $55.8 million to $92 million between this September, when the program began with contracts to three private companies, and December 2007. The projected cost during that same period, however, is put by the IRS at $61.16 million—a figure appearing not to include the bounty of up to 24 percent to be paid to the private collectors.

The IRS program “is a direct handout to the private sector, which won’t generate an appreciable return to the Treasury and will cost taxpayers money,” Kelley said, calling the GAO report “more evidence that the program isn’t serving taxpayers, and certainly calls into question the process for awarding of contracts to the private companies.”

For the complete story click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/ PressRelease.aspx?ID=983>. To read the full report, click here or visit <www.gao.gov/new.items/do61065.pdf>.

FSA Open Season Begins Nov. 13
The open season to enroll in an NTEU-won benefit is just around the corner. The open season for flexible spending accounts (FSA) begins on Nov. 13 and runs through Dec. 11. FSAs allow federal employees to use pretax income to pay for out-of-pocket medical and dependent care expenses.

NTEU played a key role in getting the money-saving FSA plan in place for federal employees. Using FSAs for medical and dependent care costs—like over-the-counter drugs, doctor visit co-payments, transportation to medical appointments, walkers, child care costs and much more—can substantially reduce your income taxes.

Not only did NTEU’s work secure FSAs in the federal workplace, the union took the lead in making sure it doesn’t cost you anything to participate in an FSA. At NTEU’s urging, the Office of Personnel Management abandoned its original plan to have federal employees pay the program’s administrative costs; instead, agencies now pay those costs on behalf of their employees.

The FSA open season runs at the same time as the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) open season . Be sure you closely examine each program before enrolling.


NTEU Slams Contracting Out Savings
Projection as ‘Wildly Speculative’
NTEU has taken sharp issue with an estimate by a group of politically-appointed federal executives that contracting work to the private sector will generate savings of some $5.59 billion over the next 10 years. President Colleen M. Kelley called the projection “wildly speculative.”

The projection, in a report by the President’s Management Council, covered completed public-private job competitions during the fiscal 2003–2005 period.

Kelley noted the council’s 10-year savings projection assumes that half the activities identified by agencies in fiscal 2005 as commercial in nature will be competed over time; thus far, however, only 17 percent of such activities have been subject to such competition.

For the complete story, click here or visit <www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/Press
Release.aspx?ID=982>.

Headlines

Kelley Talks About the 2006 Election
Fed Talk, October 27, 2006
NTEU President Colleen Kelley joined hosts Diana Veilleux and Mitch Herckis to discuss the upcoming election and what federal employees might see in the 110th Congress. To hear the program, click here or visit <www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=16>.

Trademark Office to Experiment with Telecommuting
Washington Post, October 25, 2006
Want to work for a Washington area agency and live on the Florida coast, or in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, or among the bluebonnets of Texas?

As fanciful as that may seem, it will be possible under a telecommuting pilot project developed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—inside the Beltway in Alexandria—and one of its unions.

Under the pilot, 10 experienced trademark lawyers with good job-performance ratings will be permitted to move anywhere in the continental United States and work from home.

“To my knowledge, there is no other program like this in the federal government,” said Howard Friedman, president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 245.

For the complete story, click here or visit<www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401156.html>.

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