Return to Article: GAO analysts vote for union representation
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34960
To: Tired of Lies
Below is a quote that backs up the accuracy of Gov Exec's article; it is taken from the Notes to the GAO Managing Directors'Meeting of Friday, September 21, 2007:
"Dave Walker reported that, on Tuesday, he participated in the band IIA transition seminar. He said that an issue was raised about team policies for participation in meetings with congressional staff that he wanted to discuss at a future meeting. He said band IIA staff were concerned that they did not have opportunities to attend such meetings."
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34085
Dave Walker only has himself to blame for employees bringing in the union. He listens to no one that does not agree with him. He makes unilateral decisions. The SES senior leaders, who have years of experience at the agency, quit trying to get him to listen years ago. If Walker had made these banding and pay changes and grandfathered everyone he could have avoided the union efforts. Instead he chose to strip some analysts of the standing they had had for years. The Band II split is counter to the spirit of teamwork that has been a hallmark of GAO.
GAO analysts are dedicated workers who frequently put in lots of extra hours to get the job done. Walker was getting a bargain. When an outside consultant (who certainly knew what answer Dave Walker wanted) did the Pay study, they said over 25% of GAO's senior analysts were overpaid. Does anyone know the assumptions and methodology of this study?
Dave Walker takes pride in denying the cost of living increases. He is on record that he is saving the taxpayers money. But he has had to hire a law firm to handle the fallout from his decisions - how much is that costing the taxpayers? There are many, many lawsuits against the agency. What is that costing GAO in terms of time, money, and lost opportunities? What federal agency is going to listen to what GAO has to say on personnel practices now? My bet is that handling the repercussions of his decisions has cost and will continue to cost a lot more than any savings he thought would accrue by demoting people and denying COLAs.
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34031
GAO Analysts Perform the Basic Work of the Agency and Deserve to Be Full and Equal Partners with GAO Management:
1. GAO Analysts conduct the audits, investigations, research, and analyses of the agency; they summarize the results of their work in GAO's reports, testimony, consultations, and other services for the Congress, federal agencies, and the American public. Therefore, GAO Analysts are the foundation of GAO's mission performance and success as an agency.
2. The effectiveness of the GAO - the Watchdog of the Congress - is directly related to the capabilities (unique expertise, talents, gifts, knowledge, experience, skills, and competencies) and the willingness (dedication, commitment, teamwork, collegiality, morale, and esprit de corps) of GAO Analysts to contribute to GAO's important mission. Therefore all GAO processes, systems, structures, and people should be aligned to nurture, empower, and unify staff capabilities and willingness to contribute to GAO's mission and to culivate the development of strong personal working relationships with our clients, customers, and each other.
3. GAO works best when Analysts and other employees are treated fairly and with respect by Management, and when the basic human dignity of each individual at GAO, no matter what their rank, is respected and affirmed.
4. GAO - like any human enterprise - thrives when the people in the organization are fully engaged and supported in their work and are encouraged to excel, support each other, and contribute to the organization's success.
5. To help realize such goals, over the past 18-months GAO Analysts have diligently and courageously self-organized themselves; and on Sept. 19, an overwhelming 67% of GAO's Analysts voted to "band together" in the first Union in GAO's 86 year history. By this decisive action, the 1800 rank and file Analysts of GAO signaled--in the stongest way possible--that they expect and will demand to be full and equal partners with GAO Management, joining with their Management in shaping the current and future direction of their agency, including the terms and conditions of their employment, in order to help make GAO an even more rewarding place to work and contribute to the Congress and the goal of more economical, efficient, and effective government.
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33731
Mr. Walker's tenure as Comptroller General has become fraught with conflict with GAO employees over perceived arbitrary and unfair management actions, culminating in a historic vote on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 to establish a union of GAO analysts. By a margin of 2 to 1 (897-445), and a 75% turnout, GAO's professional analysts established a union for the first time in GAO's 86-year history, affiliated with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), which is a member of the AFL-CIO. There are more than 1,800 analysts in the GAO bargaining unit. Analysts at the at GAO's sister agency, the Congressional Research Service (CRS), also are represented by IFPTE. GAO's analysts turned to a union in response to management having reassigned 800 of 1200 senior analysts to a lower pay category in January 2006, using criteria applied retroactively and on the basis of a "study" commissioned by management. In addition, management froze the cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) of nearly 30% of the senior analysts indefinitely, and reduced their performance-based bonuses by at least 50%, again claiming they were overpaid. As a result, according to a subsequent CRS study, each of those affected was estimated to lose no less than $150,000 in lifetime earnings, including pension payments. In May 2007, GAO's oversight committee in the Congress conducted a full day of hearings on the issue of GAO's management, with Members of the Committee frequently criticizing Mr. Walker's actions, and noting explicitly that COLAs are not pay-for-performance rewards.
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33730
Mr. Kershaw's assertion that only senior executives can interact with Congressional staff is patently untrue. Analyst staff at ALL levels in GAO regularly interact with the Hill and have done so for at least the past 10 years. Shame on you, GovExec, for not checking your facts. Nor is a union necessary for employee art shows -- and employee newsletters DO exist -- almost every Team/Division has one.
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33710
This seems one of the few times I don't feel the need to weigh in on this particular subject. There is more than enough vehemence on both sides of the discussion; with the weight right where I like it, dead set against this fiscal faux pas.
Still, I must point out the succinct eloquence of Mr. Cratchet. You hit the nail on the head, Pardner.
I can only hope that some one of significance can see as clearly.
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33662
Band IIA Analyst Sick to Her Stomach!!!! I will let you in on the very secret of Govt pay for performance. they sold it to you based on everyone thinks they are the wonder horse. I am sure in your mind your fantastic. This will not be the case though. you will just be a valued performer. Only 3 people in our entire organization of 800 got high performance awards. 20 got the top 4 level award. the rest were rated as 3. ITs govt. attempt to strive for mediocrity! Now they are going to stop giving me all of my congress aproved cost of living allowance! This PfP is about nothing more than stopping the gs pay raises and redistribution of wealth. In five years you are going to be making 20% less in a pay for perfomance postion than your GS counterparts. So keep licking at managments boots and eat whatever crumbs they give you. Eventually when your old and tired they mark the x on your forehead and shoot you so they can wear out another wonder horse.
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33622
Comptroller General David Walker's biggest Senate supporter has been Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and is the ranking member of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the GAO. Voinovich, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Jo Ann Davis, and Rep. Tom Davis--when the Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress in 2003--introduced Walker's proposed GAO Human Capital Reform legislative proposal that was draft at GAO. The measure was enacted into law in July 2004.
Walker has used this 2004 Act to justify most of his niggardly pay compensation "reforms" at GAO - such as denying and reducing COLAs for all staff, demoting 800 of 1200 (67%) of his senior analysts, and establishing a forced "bell curve" distribution of ratings and bonuses that has had the pernicious effect of pitting GAO teammates against each other for a limited bonus pie.
Walker's actions so enraged most GAO rank and file staff that the reluctantly decided to self-organize themselves and affiliate with an AFL-CIO union for protection against King David Walker (c.f., Zack Wamp, Cong. Rec. H10143, 9/5/07). Most GAO staff never dreamed of unionizing before Walker. So it is clear as stated by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton at a 3/8/07 hearing, that Walker and his GAO management team have "reaped the whirlwind" (c.f., Hosea 6:6,) of a union movement, including Wednesday's lopsided 2 to 1 union victory.
Shortly before the union election, Voinovich applauded Walker at a hearing for trying to "transform the culture at GAO." Voinovich also said the results of the vote will be a referendum on how well employees have accepted Walker's new pay system. "It'll be interesting to see just whether or not we're hearing from disgruntled people who didn't like what was happening or whether there's a general feeling the system is not working for them," he said.
Has anyone seen any Voinovich or other Republican comments or press releases on Walker's great leadership skills and human capital reform ideas since the union election vote? Has anyone smelled crow baking in Capitol ovens? Will this be the death knell of pay for performance at GAO and across the rest of the federal government?
Between GAO and the SEC, the prospects for the Bush/Walker federal-civil-service "reform" agenda do not appear particularly sanguine.
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33621
Comptroller General David Walker's biggest Senate supporter has been Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and is the ranking member of the Senate subcommittee that oversees the GAO. Voinovich, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Jo Ann Davis, and Rep. Tom Davis--when the Republicans controlled both Houses of Congress in 2003--introduced Walker's proposed GAO Human Capital Reform legislative proposal that was draft at GAO. The measure was enacted into law in July 2004.
Walker has used this 2004 Act to justify most of his niggardly pay compensation "reforms" at GAO - such as denying and reducing COLAs for all staff, demoting 800 of 1200 (67%) of his senior analysts, and establishing a forced "bell curve" distribution of ratings and bonuses that has had the pernicious effect of pitting GAO teammates against each other for a limited bonus pie.
Walker's actions so enraged most GAO rank and file staff that the reluctantly decided to self-organize themselves and affiliate with an AFL-CIO union for protection against King David Walker (c.f., Zack Wamp, Cong. Rec. H10143, 9/5/07). Most GAO staff never dreamed of unionizing before Walker. So it is clear as stated by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton at a 3/8/07 hearing, that Walker and his GAO management team have "reaped the whirlwind" (c.f., Hosea 6:6,) of a union movement, including Wednesday's lopsided 2 to 1 union victory.
Shortly before the union election, Voinovich applauded Walker at a hearing for trying to "transform the culture at GAO." Voinovich also said the results of the vote will be a referendum on how well employees have accepted Walker's new pay system. "It'll be interesting to see just whether or not we're hearing from disgruntled people who didn't like what was happening or whether there's a general feeling the system is not working for them," he said.
Has anyone seen any Voinovich or other Republican comments or press releases on Walker's great leadership skills and human capital reform ideas since the union election vote? Has anyone smelled crow baking in Capitol ovens? Will this be the death knell of pay for performance at GAO and across the rest of the federal government?
Between GAO and the SEC, the prospects for the Bush/Walker federal-civil-service "reform" agenda do not appear particularly sanguine.
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33603
Band IIA Analyst Sick to Her Stomach!!!! states, "All this union will do is work to take money away from high performers..."
I hope not! The primary goal of the union should be to enhance pay for performance so it has real meaning.
In today's world a knee jerk correlation between unions and low quality work is no longer valid. For example, CRS analysts produce very high quality products and they are members of the IFPTE.
Maybe if the Comptroller General had heeded the advice contained in one of his reports: GAO, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations, GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003).
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33596
The problem isn't pay for performance, it's pay for politicking. People who are promoted because they are friendly with the right people and know how to work the system. Topping it off is an autocratic management style that has turned the rank and file against management. This should put all federal appointees on notice that government employees will not sit idly by as you decimate the government workforce with your poor decisions.
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33595
My experience is that the need for unions arises in response to employee perceptions of abuse by management. Well managed organizations in which employees and supervisors work together as a team have no need for a union. For an organization to organize for the first time in its 86 year history speaks volumes about how so called "pay for performance" has been implemented. I predict similar labor relation upheavals to take place in the Defense Department as its management rams its NSPS system down the throats of its employees.
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33587
The GOP had nothing to do with this one. It is a combination of poor change management by GAO, and a myopic, reactionary response from employees.
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33585
The BIG picture is that with a Union at least you have some protection against Bush. If the Republicans stay in power after 2008 all of your jobs will be outsourced to India and China anyway.
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33577
GAO analysts showed remarkably poor judgement in voting to pay dues to support an antiquated labor-relations system that will not only drain money from their wallets, but also from GAO, since it will have to spend a ton-o-money in lawyers and labor-relations specialists, not to mention retraining the entire agency--to work in this old-fashioned paradigm. This is a huge step backward that will leave less money available for pay. The only people who will win are the union reps, GAO attornys who will be able to command more salary for these additional skills, and the poor performers at GAO will be even less likely to fired.
Model agency? Not anymore...
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33563
Union this and union that... You ask as though the union pays your salary and hires you. I've seen this mentality before that you do what ever you want and the union will protect you. Unions are for weak people with no drive and ambition folks at the bottom of the food chain. Guess what the union has no say in promotions and pay raises so if your looking for some miracle I would suggest getting back to work
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33557
"My personal opinion is that Performance management will drive more and more people who are eligible to be protected by a union by having 7777 in block 37 of their SF-50......."
This happened in the FAA when Core Comp (PFP) was forced on the nonunion employees. Except that a number of positions were changed by management to 8888 in block 37 (Hazmat Agents as an example) of the SF-50 to stem the tide of employees trying to unionize.
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33540
Good for GAO employees! How many DoD employees are going to follow suit. My personal opinion is that Performance management will drive more and more poeple who are elegible to be protected by a union by having 7777 in block 37 of thier SF-50 as they loose there yearly cost of living allowance and are earning less than their GS contemperaries. Pay for Performance is so arbitrary and as set up predjudcial as ruled by SEC PfP that it will have the opposite effect then what King George wanted which was destroying the Unions. Instead he drove people right into thier arms. I am reminded on Mel Brooks history of the world and the king is out on his veranda with a shotgoun and says his people love him and then yells pull! thereby launching a peasant into the air for him to shoot with the shotgun.
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33538
Pay for performance exists at the GAO, and most of the employees do not care for it. That means you get more pay based on how high a performance rating is given to you by your manager. Of course, there are many challenges to the ratings given.
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33506
All this union will do is work to take money away from high performers and reward the underperformers at GAO. After all, GAO's annual appropriation isn't going to increase just because we have a union now. Thus, there will be winners and losers once the union's primary goal of negotiating a new "pay structure" is completed. Who will those losers be? Answer: high performers, who will undoubtedly start leaving the agency for greener pastures. This "model agency" is headed straight down the tubes. Thanks, IFPTE!
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