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Return to Article: IRS announces major overhaul, layoffs

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  I was feeling depressed and I found this site. I am a legally blind person who has worked for the IRS for 17 years. I have worked primarily in collections, ACS, PRP, and case processing. We are going to be RIFed too and our jobs are going to Philadelphia. We do not have our pink slips yet.

  I quit the union a couple of years ago because they were bickering and fighting amongst themselves. My thought was why should my money go towards a group that does nothing for us?

  What I read about Holtsville is not what we have been told. They said most of the RIFed people were temps/part time staff.

  I have no doubt most of us will be laid off because there are just no jobs being offered. I read somewhere they were going to open positions to the outside. That is so unfair.

  I wrote my congressman, and senators. I doubt it will help.

  Deanna Bates Posted March 24, 2004 1:19 AM
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  Although these times are rough, they are not a surprise. The NTEU blocked the hiring of outside computer contractors who were already at the IRS doing IT work. By doing so the opportunity was lost for the IRS to revitalize its computer staff and make itself more efficient and able to withstand an A76 competition. Now the union cries because of outsourcing...well some of us seem to recall that the original offer of a 15% reduction for computer staff was a whole lot better than the "all or nothing" approach of the union. Now the union can explain to its members why they are losing their jobs to the private sector. Simple economics and logic. At some point in time the "government cheese" has to come to an end. For those of us with real IT skills there is always the chance of being picked up by one of the corporations that win the A76. God Bless America and the free market system.

  GovExec.com reader Posted March 10, 2004 9:00 PM
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  The beat goes on. Now the IRS is starting up another series of RIFs. The first to go on the block are a group that management calls "non-blueprint" employees. In other words employees who have served the IRS for many years that don't quite fit in management's vision du jour of the IT organization. Of course management intends to offer these employees the usual early out buy out option but that won't work for many of them since it would involve too hefty a cut in pension. If management realy wanted to save jobs it would widen the scope of the buy out offer and perhaps create some more soft landing zones for these employees. But it appears that management, at this point in time, just wants these people to disappear as quickly as possible.

  GovExec.com reader Posted February 24, 2004 7:29 AM
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  Ms. Maggio hits the point on the head! Personally, I find it hard to believe with her experience and position there was no other IRS job she could perform, nor with another agency in the NYC area. Let me briefly state my experience with a similar situation. About 2 years ago, in another federal agency in another location, the division I worked in was contracted out to an outside vendor, with no ties to the locality, although the workers were from the area, working in the jobs at salaries substantially less than what I and my colleagues earned. The only fortunate thing was that the five of us, were reassigned, though several of us were put in positions totally unrelated to what we had done throughout our federal careers. On top of this, I discovered after beginning the new job, that the previous division was paying my salary the first year, and that the receiving agency was way over its ceiling for career employees on the payroll, which to explain in simple terms, made me vulnerable to a possible RIF. I might add that like Ms. Maggio, our union is NTEU, and as usual has done a poor job. Several years ago, I dropped being my MTEU membership because of a similar reorganization in another work unit I was employed with. NTEU sent me a questionnaire upon learning of my decision, and I let them know why I discontinued membership. Never received a response back, even a thank you for letting my thoughts be known. And they and other federal unions wonder why fewer employees join, and current ones, like myself, quit? My situation, the Holtsville one and the pending closure at Memphis should be a wake-up call to NTEU to be more vigilant in negotiations where a facility is being closed or contracted out, or in time NTEU and the other federal unions will only be memories!

  GovExec.com reader Posted January 20, 2004 9:19 AM
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  Is this "major overhaul" to free up more money for manager bonuses? They paid themselves over $300 million this year! The only other company run like this that I know of was Enron, but their managers have to pay for their greed. Too bad IRS managers don't.

  GovExec.com reader Posted January 17, 2004 8:15 PM
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  Point well taken. We don't care about people in this country any longer. We are being stripped of what we used to be. We care about the corporate hogs getting rich not someone having a job. The government is changing the way people think about themselves and it is dividing the country in a very bad way.

  GovExec.com reader Posted January 15, 2004 7:20 AM
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  This happened at the Brookhaven IRS Holtsville site first. (January 2004) Where was Colleen Kelley? No one tried to save our jobs. After 30 years of government service with the IRS at the Brookhaven site in Holtsville, I was RIF'ed. This happened due to poor management planning at this site. There were over 1,600 employees at Brookhaven, NY who lost their jobs as of January 2004.

  For me, I am a GR -12 - Management Analyst, with a spotless career record, just 50 years old and was forced to retire, taking a 10 percent penalty hit in my annuity. I was tossed to the wind even though I have so much experience with the IRS. The IRS has invested so much money in me by all the training I have had, and now, rather then place me in a job, I get RIF'ed.

  The bad things that has happened at Brookhaven is being hidden and management has lied to everyone about the true numbers of employees affected. They helped no one, placed no one. Everyone had to compete for a job, no one was reassigned. Very experienced people were forced to retire and there were many others not eligible to retire that were RIF'ed. But at the same time, the IRS is hiring people with no IRS experience.

  So my question again is. Where was everyone when this happened at the Brookhaven IRS Center, in Holtsville?

  Marie Maggio Posted January 14, 2004 1:05 PM