The IRS and the National Treasury Employees Union have taken the first steps toward cooperating to implement a planned reorganization of the agency.
This week, the agency and the union announced an agreement to address joint issues arising from the reorganization. Last year, IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti announced his plan to restructure the agency into customer lines and reorganize its system of national, regional and district offices. When Congress approved the plan, it gave NTEU a major role in the restructured IRS, including a seat on an agency oversight board.
NTEU president Robert M. Tobias called the agreement a positive first step. "It provides the important basis for moving to the next phase of the reorganization," he said.
IRS and NTEU officials said the agreement sets a basic framework for the reorganization and a schedule for creating each of the new IRS divisions. The divisions will be organized around four business lines-individual taxpayers, small businesses and the self-employed, medium and large businesses, and tax-exempt organizations.
Agency and union officials say the new agreement will help them address training, bargaining and dispute resolution issues. Under the agreement, IRS employees affected by the agency's reorganization will be offered increased training and career development opportunities. The IRS agreed to devote at least two percent of its annual training budget to fund classes for those employees who wish to take advantage of new opportunities that arise from the reorganization.