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Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal labor union, gathered on the steps of the Labor Department headquarters in Washington Wednesday to protest the potential outsourcing of their jobs and demand collective bargaining rights for federal airport screeners.

The demonstration was one of 42 workers' rights events staged across the country on Wednesday, and drew 3,000 participants (according to AFGE estimates) despite rainy weather. Nearly 20 labor unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), joined AFGE.

Bush administration officials have used "brass knuckle tactics" to hand government work to contractors, said AFGE President John Gage at the rally. He expressed particular disappointment in the White House's rejection of union-backed legislative language to provide employees and unions with appeal rights in job competitions.

The Office of Management and Budget's May revisions to Circular A-76, which sets rules for public-private competitions, make it easier for corporations to win government contracts, Gage claimed. "The old regulations just weren't slanted enough toward the big contributors to permit the flea market sale of 800,000 federal jobs and core government functions," he said.

The administration's "ferocity" in "beating back" appeal provisions in fiscal 2004 spending bills "underscores [its] greed," Gage said.

OMB has defended its competitive sourcing initiative as a way to increase government efficiency and save taxpayers money. Federal employees rarely lose their jobs in competitions, OMB officials have noted. Furthermore, OMB has dropped its overall governmentwide targets for the number of federal jobs it would like to see placed up for bids.

Paige Harrison, a Justice Department worker and member of ASCME, said at the rally that she does not see how competitive sourcing encourages efficiency. "It's actually wasting large amounts of money and months of government time," she said, by forcing "government employees [to] learn how to defend their jobs, rather than perform them."

Gage also expressed anger at the administration's failure to grant federal baggage and passenger screeners at the Transportation Security Administration collective bargaining rights. Screeners can join AFGE, but a directive issued in January denies them bargaining rights. AFGE filed a lawsuit against the directive, alleging it was unconstitutional. But the union lost the lawsuit in early September, and has now appealed that court ruling.

COMMENTS

• Perhaps AFGE will think twice about its political endorsements in the upcoming election. The union endorsed "W" last time. If feds ever want to stop the "CA bleeding," they need to make federal jobs an issue in the upcoming election. We have a pretty loud voice in this country--we just all need to shout at the same time. Irene Brown Posted December 30, 2003 11:13 AM