Transcript Slide 1

The National Federation of
Federal Employees/IAM
Chris Feutrier
President Local 1521
406-362-4265
[email protected]
National Federation of Federal
Employees/I.A.M.
President Warren G. Harding and the NFFE Executive Council on the
White House lawn in 1921
Affiliation with the Machinists
I.A.M.A.W
• NFFE/IAM is a large (750,000 members)
and diverse (over 1,000 different industries
and sectors) modern labor organization.
• Provides Incredible Training Opportunities
free to union officers and staff
• Strong lobbying power with our Non-partisan
political action committee
What Employees and Management
Should Know about NFFE/IAM
• We don’t want to manage
• We are the voice of the people and
potentially a voice for management
• We respect management
• We want to promote good management
• As elected representatives we have to answer
to our own constituency
• The union isn’t perfect, but you have the
opportunity to make it better by getting
What Employees and Managers
Should Know About We View
Change
• Change is a natural and necessary force of an
agency’s evolution.
• Change occurs best through collaboration and
bargaining with input from the ground and mid
level employee.
• Agency enforced change should include effective
monitoring procedures to evaluate the effectiveness
and efficiency of the new changed condition.
• The current change the agency is going through is
NOT making us more efficient or being monitored
properly.
What has NFFE/IAM ever done
for me?
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Since 1917, the National Federation of Federal Employees has
worked with the Forest Service to mutual benefit and has
effectively lobbied and negotiated many of the working conditions
we take for granted today.
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Retirement annuities
Health benefits
Cost of living pay increases
Per-diem
Transfer of Station
Maxi-flex system
Holiday pay
Wellness plan
Within grade pay increases
Over-time pay
Hazard pay
Sick leave
How does NFFE/IAM represent
employees today?
•Direct Representation
–As a personal representative for
employees in variety of forums
•Indirect Representation
–Master Agreement
–Partnership Council
–Leadership Team
–Lobbying and Legislative efforts
Direct Representation
• The unions have exclusive access to the
labor relations system.
• The Law: 5 U.S.C., Chapter 71
– Defines the appropriate units that the Union
represents.
– Mandates union participation and bargaining as
a part of doing business.
– Establishes time lines to raise issues
Direct Representation
•The Forums
– FLRA . . .A forum to address
reprisals.
– Arbitration . . .A cost effective forum
for individual disputes.
– EEOC, OWCP, MSPB . . . A forum
for individual disputes.
Indirect Representation
•The Master Agreement
• Negotiated contract between management
and the union at the national level.
• Governs almost all aspects of
employer/employee relationship.
• You can find a copy of this Agreement on
your local union website.
• Training
– M.A. Training CD-ROM
– Yearly training opportunities
Weingarten Right
As a bargaining unit employee represented by a
labor organization, you have the right to request
representation from the labor organization (i.e.
Union) at any investigative examination/interview
where you reasonably believe the examination may
result in disciplinary action being taken against you.
You may make this request at any time prior to or
during the interview. If requested, the agency may
opt to: suspend questioning and grant your request
then resume the interview; discontinue the
interview; or offer you the choice to proceed with
the interview without a Union representative or to
forego the interview.
Indirect Representation
• Partnership Council
– To involve Management and Union representatives as
full partners in the identification of problems as well as
the development and implementation of solutions, in
order to better accomplish the mission of the Forest
Service.
– To promote the use of interest-based bargaining in
lieu of position-based bargaining when conducting
negotiations.
– To openly share information and afford bargaining
unit employees the opportunity for involvement at the
earliest predecisional stage regarding personnel
policies, practices, and conditions of employment on
the Forest.
Indirect Representation
• The Leadership Team
As the union we have a seat as a full voting
member of the leadership team.
– Add items to the agenda that are important to
the employees.
– Vote on behalf of the employees in ways that
are consistent with the perspective from the
ground.
– Emphasis on employee development, fairness,
and the critical importance of field going
positions.
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Indirect Representation
• Lobbying and Legislative Efforts
– Congress operates by applied pressure.
– Through solidarity and the sheer numbers of
our union members we can apply significant
pressure affecting and writing legislation.
– Feedback loop to Congress of what is really
happening on the ground.
– With congress calling the shots, any good thing
that comes our way one year can be
discontinued the next absent the applied
pressure and voice of your federal union.
– This includes your benefits and pay raises.
Employee Concerns
Competitive Sourcing~Or, will
my job still be here tomorrow?
Competitive Sourcing Threat
• President’s Management Agenda is ramping
up.
• USDA/Forest Service Green Plan FY 2005FY 2009 Competitive Sourcing
• In accordance with current direction, the
agency plans to conduct feasibility studies on
21,310 FTE’s from 2005-2009.
• Competitions may occur as a result of these
feasibility studies in accordance with current
USDA direction.
Competitive Sourcing Threat
The Union’s Response
• Level playing field with contractors.
• Inform congress of how money appropriated for
natural resource management is actually being
spent.
• Work with congress to enforce spending caps on
competitive sourcing program with true cost
accounting of C.S. program.
• Work with congress to request audit of competitive
sourcing audit by G.A.O.
• Track true costs vs. supposed savings.
Track True Costs to Agency
• "I know we can show paper savings in IT due to
reducing workforce by something like 600 FTEs.
However, I believe it's relatively easy to show that
burden shift, lost productivity, and real dollars
spent, offset any paper savings (and of course this
does not include all the money spent on the
competitive sourcing study--a big sunk cost to start
with). Regarding the impacts of shifting to ISO, if
the average employee is now spending just 2%
more time dealing with IT-related work (and I
think 2% is probably conservative), the apparent
FTE saving is offset by burden shift (2% x 30,000
Forest Service total FTE's=600FTEs).”
» Forest Supervisor From Region 5
What do we show congress?
Exhibit A
• Chief Bosworth was asked to identify the FY ’06
preparedness funding for each of the 10 regions.
• His answer totaled $561,333,000.
• Yet, Congress appropriated $ 676,000,000 for fire
preparedness...
• Where did the other $114,667,000 end up & who
approved it?
• How will this reduced firefighting capability affect
firefighter/public safety?
• How will this affect resource & community
protection?
C.S. Union Victories
Level Playing Field
• Union lobbied successfully to include fair-play
language into 2006 Appropriations bill.
• In-house agency employees can form a “most
efficient organization” to compete against
contractors.
• The provisions also require contractors to
demonstrate a savings of at least 10% or $10
million.
C.S. Union Victories
Spending Cap on C.S. studies
• In 2006 the union successfully lobbied a $3
million dollar spending cap on C.S. studies.
• Hank Kashdan’s quote- “The current effort
to present a revised “Green Plan” results
from a request by USDA to develop a plan
the agency is capable of implementing if the
legislated restrictions contained in FY 2006
Appropriation Act did not exist.”
C.S. Union Victories
G.A.O. Audit
1. Does
the Forest Service have an effective and strategic
process for selecting commercial activities for competition,
and does that process properly consider the agency's longterm ability to effectively fulfill its essential missions,
including wildfire management?
2. Does the Forest Service have an adequate infrastructure including policies, people, and systems - in place to
effectively manage its competitive sourcing program?
3. How does the Forest Service ensure that expected savings
from competitive sourcing are actually achieved?
4. Does the Forest Service have procedures designed to ensure
that all the costs of its competitive sourcing program- such
as salaries, travel, training, oversight, and Support costs- are
properly accounted for?
Competitive Sourcing 2007
MORATORIUM CITY
• C.S. is broken and is not adding value to the Agency
in terms of effectiveness nor is it financially beneficial
or efficient to the tax-payers that we serve.
• The G.A.O. audit will bear this claim out.
• Don’t waste any more taxpayer dollars on the
ideologically driven privatization of our Agency that
isn’t saving any money.
• We are pushing hard with the Interior appropriations
committees in congress to get a MORATORIUM on
Competitive Sourcing in the USFS.
Fire and Liability
• Work to amend PL 104-208 sec. 636 to allow
fire line supervisors to receive the same
reimbursement privileges enjoyed by
supervisors and law enforcement officers for
liability insurance.
• Work to clarify PL 107-203 to reflect that the
independent investigations are conducted to
obtain lessons learned and are separate from
appropriate administrative and criminal
investigations.
• Work towards the implementation of protocols
in accident investigations to help firefighters
have the confidence to provide complete and
candid information
Other Legislative Issues
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Retirement Buy-Back of seasonal time
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Sick leave and FERS
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Adjustment to the 1989 buy back date.
Facilitating additional options to the way that you
can buy back that time.
Allow FERS employees the ability to buy back
their sick leave.
Recreation Issues
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Campgrounds are closing or underserviced
Recreation employees are being rapidly
downsized.
YET the public is recreating and using Forest
Service roads, trails and campgrounds in record
numbers.
Regionally Negotiated MOU’s
• Positive work environment
• Regional Pre-wraps
• Fire issues (compensatory lunch/spaceblankets/etc.)
• Wellness plans
• ADR toolkit
LOCALLY Negotiated MOU’s
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Local Pre-Wraps Plan
Bunkhouse Agreement
Local Space policy
Local Wellness plan
Standby-vs-on-call
Fire issues
What does NFFE/IAM do for me?
• Ability to address adverse impact of agency actions.
• Advance notice of changes in working conditions.
• Ability to grieve certain personnel actions .
• Provides a legitimate alternative to the agency’s
interpretations of law, rule, and regulation.
• Ability to challenge “reform” through the courts.
• A unified voice on the Hill.
• A unified voice in the Media.
• A unified voice to influence public opinion.
Local 1521Steward and Officers
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President-Chris Feutrier
Vice-president-Kim Beaver
Secretary Treasurer-Debbie Cuyle
S.O. Steward-Denise Pengeroth
Townsend Steward-Tracy Schilling
Helena Steward-Archie Harper
Lewis & Clark Chief Steward-Carol Hatsfield
Communicator-Alisha Knaub
Conclusion
With our union, the federal
employee has a legitimate voice in
the workplace and an opportunity
to be catalysts for positive change.